Hollow Hero
by HakuPluvi
Summary: Instead of being gifted One for All, Izuku instead is granted his powers a different way. A strange charm found in a ruined beach. HollowKnight X-Over. AU/OOC Izuku.
1. Void Heart - 1

**A/N - I replayed Hollow Knight recently and got inspired to write this. Its OOC so sorry in advance if you don't like that. Also Hollow Knight spoilers.**

**I don't own Hollow Knight or My Hero Academy. They are owned by Team Cherry and Kohei Horikoshi respectively.**

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

"I'm sorry. I know it's alright to dream, but be realistic kid. Without a quirk, you _can't_ become a hero."

The words he never wanted to hear. The words he _hoped_ he wouldn't hear. Yet, there they were. From _All Might_ himself, his biggest idol. After that, the skinny form of the hero left, and Izuku was left to wallow in pity.

Without purpose or destination, he began walking. The words of his idol replaying over and over in his mind. He hated being quirkless. All Izuku Midoriya wanted was to be hero.

By the time that he came to his senses, Izuku had travelled far from the rooftop where his dreams were shattered. Looking up, he realized just where he had ended up.

The Takoba Municipal Beach.

What was once a beautiful beach and a great tourist destination, was now a huge pile of junk. Mountains of waste and trash scattered the beach, blocking the view of the ocean. Both waste washing in, plus people littering the area over years had lead to this build up.

Izuku sat down on a nearby bench, tears still threatening to fall. As he did, he accidentally moved a piece of debris. One of the nearby trash piles shifted slightly, and he quickly got up and moved before the integrity of it failed and the pile collapsed. Yet instead, the pile only shifted slightly, and a soft clicking of a single piece falling off the top sounded.

His eyes tracked the movement, a small black metal shape softly tinked its way down, before coming to a stop in the sand by Izuku's feet.

Looking at the object, he found it to be a small circle, in the shape of what seemed to be a head. It was solid black with strange intricate patterns running along the surface, and with two white eyes that he _swore_ he thought were glowing. He poked at it slightly, and when it didn't move on contact, picked it up. Looking at the back, he saw a small spike at the end, indicating that the object was a pin that one would wear on their clothes, or have hanging from their school bag.

It was a strange thing to be abandoned, he thought, considering it was _extremely_ well made. Running his fingers along it, he could identify no scratches or dents along the surface, nor did he find anything else interesting about the pin. Shrugging, he took the pin and clipped it onto his shirt, over his heart. He figured that if someone got rid of something so well made, he might as well keep it. The item itself was beautifully made.

As soon as his hands left the object, he felt a sharp prick into his skin. It was tiny, at first, and he merely assumed that the pin must have poked him on accident. He moved his hands to adjust it.

Then the spike extended piercing his heart.

Izuku _screamed_.

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

_He__ stood on top of the cliff, under the light of a single lamp. From where he stood, he could see the lights in the distance of a town. The first that he has seen for a while. With his sight set on his next objective, he did a quick inventory check. His _Nail _secured on his back, and cloak covering his body, he nodded, before leaping off._

_..._

_He approached the small bug, eyes seemingly clouded in illusions. It was whispering to himself, something he couldn't quite make out until he got closer._

_"...Esmy... How much deeper do we have to go..."__Tapping him lightly on the shoulder seemed to break the illusion. Their eyes cleared up, and he turned towards me.__"Oh! What?! Who..." He trailed off, before looking around, realizing where he was.__"...This old village. What a strange dream, to have lead me here." He shook his head, before he returned his gaze back upon him. "I'm Sly. Usually, I live an uneventful life up in Dirtmouth. I'd probably be best getting back there now. If you return above, come and see me." The bug walked off but he heard it mutter something under his breath as he left._

_"I'm probably the friendliest face left there, and I can thank you properly for your good deed."_

_..._

_He woke up, unfamiliar with his surroundings. Looking around, he saw an unfamiliar face staring at him as he rose._

_"Ahhhh, you've returned. Welcome back to the waking world._

_"__He stared, slightling tilting his head in a silent question. The figure chuckled, before responding to the unasked.__"Those figures, those Dreamers... They reached out with what little power they have and dragged you into that place." She paused, before looking at him. Or more accurately, the weapon is his hand. "The Dream Nail... it can cut through the veil that seperates the waking world from our dreams. Even the dreamers themselves can not hide from such a weapon. Though... It is weaker than it should be."_

_He stared that the artifact in his hand, activating it as the sword shimmered into view._

_"It requires essence to reach it's peak. Collect it, and I may make it whole again. Once we have enough, we can work wonders together!" The figure shouted enthusiastically._

_He stared at them, before pointing towards her lightly. She blinked, before lightly shaking her head and laughing.__"Of course, my mistake. You may call me the Seer."_

_..._

_Clearing the path through the lush green area around him, he lightly jumps down, following the path of the one he saw. In the clearing, the figure he was chasing stands facing away from him. He steps closer, before the path behind him closes._

_"Halt." She declares, red cape billowing. "Come no closer, Ghost."_

_He does as she asks, stopping where he stands. She turns to face him, empty orbs staring into empty orbs.__"I've seen you, creeping through the undergrowth stalking me." She starts, eyes never leaving his form. "This old kingdom... A terrible thing awakens. I can smell it in the air..." She shifts, her weapon now at the ready. She points it towards him, sharp and threatening. "I know what you are. What you'd try to do. I can't allow it!"_

_With that, the _Needle _is thrown towards him. He steps out of the way, drawing his own weapon. Running forward, he draws _Nail _and prepares to swing it, before ducking out of the way when the _Needle _is pulled back on a thread. He stands his ground, weapon flairing out in challenge, and on the unspoken signal, both dash fowards._

_..._

_Climbing down using the _Mantis Claws_, he approached the main stage. The same ones he definitely _didn't _steal. Simply... Acquired. They were just laying there after all._

_As he approached, he saw his current objective. Three thrones stood tall in the courtyard. On top of each, was one of the Mantis Lords. All three were supposedly strong in combat, and demanded respect out of him. They nodded at him, expecting a bow or some show of respect.__Instead, he drew his _Nail_ with a flourish, before bringing it down at his side in a swift motion. He wasn't good with words, and here none were needed._

_The three Mantis Lords looked at each other, before the one in the middle stood up, and approached. Claws raised up, he took his spot on the opposite end of the arena. They stared at the other, before he nodded._

_And their blades clashed in a flash of movement._

_..._

_He stared up at the fountain where the memorial of the Hollow Knight was located. The one who was sealed in order to keep the corruption at bay. Constant drops of water rained down upom them from the Blue Lake situated above._

_"Again we meet, little ghost." Hornet appeared, __weapon strung along her back and red cape ever present. He turned to look at her, before both looked back at the memorial._

_"Normally, I'm quite perceptive, yet you I underestimated." She spoke. "You've seen beyond this Kingdom's bounds. Yours is resilience born of two voids. It's no surprise you've managed to reach the heart of this world. In doing so, you shall know the sacrifice that keeps it standing." Then she begins to walk away, ready to disappear like eevry other encounter, before stopping. Without looking she leaves one final message._

_"If, knowing the truth, you'd still attempt it, seek the Grave in Ash. It shall hold the mark it would grant to one like you."_

_..._

_The broken vessel screamed, as the plague that infects it is finally killed. Orange light floods out of the body, before leaving the empty husk in its wake._

_In its final moments, it reaches out towards him, before finally the light dims and the body falls limp. Unmoving._

_He walks fowards. In the vessels arm lies a small bead. Picking it up, the sides of it opens, pure white wings extending on each side. Clipping it to the back of his cape, he nods before jumping and giving it a test. The wings flap once, giving him extra lift for a moment, before fading. After several more attempts, he realizes that he must touch the ground before the wings may be used again._

_This would be useful, he decided._

_..._

_The Nailsmith brought down his hammer woth one final swing, before staring at the results of his work._

_"It's done. The reforging is complete."_

_He hands the weapon off. The Nail, now redubbed the _Pure Nail_, was beautiful. What was once a pure slat of metal was now beautifally shaped. The smooth surface was now embedded with an intricate pattern, and was deadly sharp. He gave off a nod to the Nailsmith, who was now hesitant._

_"In only your weapon I have seen such potential." He starts. "Finally, I behold the majesty ot a Pure Nail... To think... So soon... I... I must step outside a moment." With shaky legs, he walks outside. A few seconds later, he follows._

_The Nailsmith waits outside. Staring down at the edge of a cliff. Without turning, he begins to talk._

_"With a Pure Nail forged, my lifetimed desure is completed. My only wish is to see and feel the nail strike true. As my final moment in life, I want to taste the blade's exquisite edge."_

_He draws Pure Nail hesitantly. The Nailmaster notices this._

_"Please, do not hesitate. I beg you. Cut me down! Let me feel my life's accomplishment!"_

_He stares down at his weapon. A single nod._

_And then steel moves._

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

Izuku woke up with a headache. Memories had flooded into his brain, through the eyes of another.

And yet, they were _his_ memories.

Despite them initially being foreign memories initially, his brain had quickly rewrote that since he was seeing all of them through _their_ eyes, he was seeing it through _his _eyes.

He was Izuku Midoriya. Yet he was _also_ the Knight. Ghost. Void Vessel. Whatever he was called in a previous life.

It was... strange having multiple memories. It was as if he had multiple personalities, yet they worked in harmony at the same time. Izuku's desire to be a hero resonated with the Knight's desire to defeat all evil.

Remembering that he had been knocked out, he pulled out his phone to check the time. Upon seeing a couple missed calls and a few frantic texts from his worried mother, he quickly got up and ran home. Luckily, the beach wasn't too far off from his house, and made it there within the next half an hour. Idly, he noticed that even running, that was a _bit_ too fast. Plus he wasn't as winded as he thought he would be. Yet, with everything on his mind, that was the _least_ of his worries. He was still searching through his memories of the Hallownest and their _(his) _feats.

"I'm home!" He called out as he entered his house.

"Oh! Izuku!" His mother called out from the other room. Shuffling was heard from kitchen, where she was probably hard at work making dinner. "I was so worried about you! You didn't answer your calls and it was starting to get late and..." She trailed off, as Izuku finally came around the corner and entered the kitchen. Her eyes widened and she gasped in shock.

"Is something wrong?" He asked her, slightly worried. Never bothering to check what happened to himself after the incident with the pin, he wondered if his mom could sense something was different.

"Honey... Are you alright?" She asked nervously.

"...Yes. Why?" He responded.

"Your... Your eyes..." She cried out. "What happened to your eyes!"

"My eyes?" What was wrong with his eyes? Maybe they were still red from crying earlier. He turned and ran towards the bathroom. When he looked into the mirror, he realized just what shocked his mother.

His had drastically changed. What were once bright green eyes were now black pits. No pupils or sclera. Just and endless void of black.

"Oh." Apparently the Void Heart had affected him much more than he thought. Looking down, he realized that the pin _(charm)_ was no longer on his shirt. Just a small hole where he initially pinned it to. Quickly moving his shirt, he looked to see the area where he was stabbed. Only to find nothing. No scar, no bleeding wound, not even a mark. There was no evidence it was even there, yet he still _felt_ it in his body.

As the Knight, he was unable to remove the charm, so clearly the concept was the same. But before it was atleast always visible, being pinned on his cloak. Maybe, his body had adapted to it. It was what allowed him to syncronize with the void, and helped lead to the fall of the Radiance. Just maybe... He started to focus, attempting to call forth their_(his)_ shade form using their _(his) _memories.

"Izuku?" His mom poked her head in the doorway, watching her son with his closed eyes. "Are you oka-" Then Izuku's body was engulfed in shadows. His mother screamein panic, and looked like she was about to faint.

Izuku's shade form was similar to what it was in the past. His form was completely shanged into the shadowy void, everything pitch black except for his eyes, which had changed into pure white. From his head he sprouted black hors that the old vessel once had. His arms had elongated slightly, and turned his hands into claws, which he hadn't expected. The lone few times he had done that, was when he had finished off the Radiance. Unlike before, his shade form included his legs, and he didn't seem to be able to hover like in said battle, and he had a couple extra tendrils floating out from his back. Turning to his mom, who shivered when his eyes met hers, he calmly spoke.

"...I think I found my quirk."

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

"So, tell me again how you discovered your quirk?"

He was at a quirk doctor now, being examined. His mom, after crying her eyes out, had dragged Izuku to the nearest one, both to get him registered and also to check if his quirk had caused any damages. He had to admit, he didn't appreciate the constant looks of nervousness she kept giving him out of the corner of her eye. Same with others as well. Everyone who looked into his eyes seemed to pale in fear, or at least looked away immediately. Luckily the doctor currently looking at him was professional, and was not doing the same. Even if he noticed the slight twitches of his hands as he talked.

"...I didn't notice anything different until I went home. Mom was the one to notice the changes first." He answered. Obviously he wouldn't tell the truth about how his powers _actually_ came to be. First, because he didn't think anyone would believe him. "_Oh yeah, I was stabbed by a pin which I absorbed, giving me memories of a mythical land where bugs and plants could talk and fight. And that enchanted me with powers that weren't my own."_ Internally, he rolled his eyes at that.

Second, was because he still needed to search the beach. If the Void Heart was there, maybe the rest of his equipment could be lost under the mass of garbage. Telling the doctor may lead to others searching the area, or closing it off and labelling it a hazard and clearing it.

Third, was because he just didn't want to. The Knight, while calm and collected, was a Void Vessel. He was unable to talk, and even then chose not to. Izuku was socially awkward, and would probably be stuttering if not for _also_ being the Knight as well.

He flinched. This multiple personality thing was going to be annoying, at least until he managed to sort things out. He wanted to treat it like a seperate entity, but it also felt wrong to say that, since it was _his _being.

"Hello? Izuku? Are you alright?" The doctor asked. Izuku looked up, ignoring the slight flinch from the doctor when their eyes met. "You've been slightly mumbling to yourself this entire time. I couldn't really make it out, but we were getting worried."

_"Oh, had he been doing that?"_ He wondered. Somehow, his nervous tick of mumbling seemes to be something that stuck with him. He would never realize when he entered one, and by the time he did, someone would point it out and shake him out of it. "Sorry."

"As I was saying, how did you know how to use it, if all you knew was your eyes were different. From what your mom told me, you shifted into a shadow monster?"

"_Because I had experience from a different life."_

"It was... instinct. Like my body knew how." Was his actual answer.

"I see..." The doctor wrote something down on his clipboard. "Can you show me this form?" Izuku shrugged before doing as asked. Focusing for a few seconds, Izuku called upon the void, and a short burst of shadows later, he was cloaked in his short form. He saw the doctor's eyes widen in shock, before coughing and reaffirming himself.

The rest of the tests were fairly standard. He had some blood drawn, and found that despite being in shade form still had regular blood inside. They tested the limits of his movement, being able to mobe his claw like appendages fine, and even slightly move his tendrils. Only one tendril could move at a time, but slowly. After all the tests were complete, the doctor gave them his report.

"Well, I couldn't see any complications with your body that I could find. I'm still not sure whether to call this a mutation quirk or an emitter, but for now I'll mark it down as mutation."

"So there's nothing wrong? Even though our quirks are nothing alike?" His mom asked.

"Honestly, it's a bit strange that it's so far off from yours, but it's nothing that hasn't happened before. In any case, congratuations Izuku. You're a late-bloomer with an extra toe joint, but you have a quirk." The doctor smiled at him. "What would you like to call it?"

Well it only one name seemed appropriate. It was what gave him his "quirk" after all.

"Void Heart."

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

A couple of days later, and Izuku found himself back at the beach. Mountains of scrap and trash were still piled up, but compared to the Junk Pit, they were nothing put hills. His reason for coming back was very simple. If he could find the Void Heart here, then maybe he could find something else that belonged to him. If he wanted to go to UA and be a hero, he would need his equipment. Worst case scenario, he cleans the beach while looking and gets stronger physically. His human body still needed to workout and build up strength, and he could practice using his shade form for longer lengths of time. As it was, he could only hold it for 3 minutes before it dropped.

He had 9 months to prepare for the UA entrance exams. 9 months to reacquaint himself with his abilities, and get stronger.

In terms of equipment, he ran through what he needed from when he first received them.

First and obviously most important, his weapon. The Nail or eventual Pure Nail. Hopefully he would find this, given it was his main way of dealing with enemies, and by extension would be villians in the future. The short sword like object would be the utmost priority in finding, otherwise he would need to have something identical forged. Having used it extensively, he knew it's weight and shape and could draw plans for it easily. Finding a good Blacksmith _(Nailsmith)_ however would be a struggle.

Next would be the Mothwing Cloak. Finding it shortly after the first encounter with Hornet, it allowed him a short burst of movement, temporarily ignoring the effects of gravity. Later, he had evolved it into the Shade Cloak, where he could dash while enveloped in the void, making everything pass through him rather than damage him. Which, with shade form, gave him an idea.

Focusing, he shifted into shade form, and concentrated once more. He started with a small jog, before jumping forwards. At the peak of his jump, instincts from long before took over, and he sped forwards a couple of metres instantly, before gravity took hold and brought him down to the ground. Nodding, he realized that dashing worked the same way. Yet without the Mothwing Cloak, his mind couldn't make the connection of using his energy to dash. That meant he was only able to dash in shade form, meaning he couldn't incorporate it in his usual fighting style. He did, however, notice he had much higher jumping potential, able to jump vetically about 2 metres. In any case, cloaks were checkmarked off the list as a success.

Shortly after that would be the Mantis Claws. After... Appropriating the claws, it was his primary form of vertical travelling. Acting much like climbing picks, they were extremely helpful in scaling walls. Since most of Hallownest was underground caverns, they were a neccessity. While the Mantis Claws were useful, they were easily replaceable. Finding it would be nice, but it would be for more sentimental reasons than anything.

After that is the Dream Nail. When Awoken, it was what allowed him access to both the White Palace, the Godhome and inside the Hollow Knights mind to defeat the Radiance. It was an exceptional weapon linking him to the dream world where he could see what others were thinking. While it would be useful for interrogation, not the most useful since he believed the Radiance killed. If he came across it however he wouldn't complain.

The Crystal Heart was another that was in the "Would be nice but not necessary category." It could be used to charge up, before launching himself in one direction at great speeds and far distances. Unlike the Hallownest, therr weren't any giant pits of acid or endless spike traps. As such, he didn't think he needed the fast means of transportation.

Speaking of acid, he didn't think that would be a problem either. While there were _some _people that could have acid as a quirk in some form, he bet on the odds that there wouldn't be someone with it readily available to mess with him. Therefore, Isma's Tear, the fruit that allowed him immunity to acid, would hopefully be uneeded.

Finally, the Monarch Wings. He got those after defeating the Broken Vessel, who was infected by the orange fungus. He felt bad having to cut down a fellow sibling, but his mind was not his own. They allowed him a burst of vertical movement, or a "double jump" as he liked to call it, where the wings would unfold and flap enough to double his altitude. Unfortunately, they never let him fly as they deactivated once used until he found stable footing, whether that be a wall or the ground. One of the most helpful things he got, and he wished he still had it.

Everything else he considered less important. Things like his Lumafly Lantern or the King's Brand were unnecessary. His multitude of charms would be missed, but he was sure that he could find a work around in some way.

Well, he had 9 months until the entrance exam. Time to start catching up as it were.

**/\/\/\/\ -8 Months Remain- /\/\/\/\**

Well, so far he wasn't having much luck in his searches.

The first month he spent searching and cleaning the beach, his results had been lackluster. He was getting slightly stronger sure, building up a bit of body mass, and he could hold his shade cloak for longer and started training with it, but it wasn't what he was hoping for.

He had luckily been able to contact a local junkyard who was willing to help clean up the beach. Apparently the old man who use to work there had fond memories of it, so he would helpfully drive his truck back and forth to help clear away the debris. A fair amount of the scrap metal and parts could be sold off, and since Izuku didn't need any of it, the old man wasn't losing any profits from his trips. Since Izuku had told him he was searching for something within the piles, the old man had promised that if he found anything shiny or interesting that he may have missed, he would let him know. Sadly, that hadn't happened yet.

Between school, training and some time spent doing quirk analysis, Izuku was starting to tire out. Yet he knew that he wouldn't stop here. His dream to be a hero was still there, nd he had faced worse odds before. Whether that statement was for when he was quirkless or his past life, he didn't truly know.

Plus, he was getting impatient. This was the longest he ever went having his Nail by his side. He did however give him time to experiment with his Soul techniques.

As a Void Vessel, he eventually was able to learn 4 different techniques using Soul energy, which he gained by fighting enemies. Each ability would drain part of his soul charge, and since he had no nail or anything to damage, he had to be careful how he would spend it in the future. He did learn that apparently hot bubbles baths worked as a subsitute for hot springs to charge his soul, which was nice after long days of cleaning the beach.

The first ability was Focus. He would charge his inner soul energy to force his wounds closed. While extremely useful, it required him to stay still in order to use, which meant it wasn't incredibly useful in combat unless he could exploit patterns and find a lull. Each use would take around 33% of his tank.

The second was Vengeful Soul. He would fire off a portion of his tank in a blast of soul energy, which would explode for some damage. What was strange was how his blasts were much weaker than he remembered them being. Rather than large blasts which took 33% of his tank, he was only able to fire off small blasts which took 10% of his charge but did a lot less damage as it were.

Third was an ability called Desolate Dive. Using it, he would dive from above and slam the ground, causing a bolt of white lightnig to strike and a resulting shockwave which would hurt badly. This acted like he remembered, taking away 30% of his tank as normal. It also got him in trouble with local authorities. Most of the time he was careful with not going overboard, but the clear bolt of white lightning that came with this move alerted nearby police, who came expecting a villain attack. When they realized it was just a kid quirk training, they gave him a lecture about quirk use outside being illegal but let him off the hook if he was careful.

This in turn made it so he couldn't test his fourth and final ability, Howling Wraiths. If the Desolate Dive would attract attention, he imagined the screaming banshees that accompanied this ability would _definitely_ cause problems. His most powerful ability would cause the wraiths to explode out from above him, dealing huge damage. Problem was it _only_ hit above him, so anything to the sides or below would go unscathed. This also took 33% of his tank.

All abilities were white. What bothered him was that each offensive soul technique had an upgrade, which dealt more damage and were black signifying his void nature. Yet for some reason, all he could manifest was the regular versions. All his memories that he went through told him he was doing it right, but _something _was off.

He figured it was due to a lack of training, so he thre himself into it once again.

**/\/\/\/\ P.O.V Katsuki Bakugo /\/\/\/\**

Something was wrong with that idiot _D__eku._

Around 2 months ago he came in to school extremely quietly. He brought out of those dumbass notebooks that he had and was scribbling away while muttering. Nothing the weirdo didn't do before. What _was_ new was his eyes while doing it.

Before, when writing about his heroes, he was a smiling blubbery mess of a human. All sunshines and rainbows. Even after I would put him in his place, the thought of being _hero_ would perk him up. Even if I knew the worthless quirkless loser couldn't do it. Yet he wasn't quirkless anymore apparently.

When he came in those couple months ago, everyone noticed it immediately. His weird eyes. He told everyone he had a quirk he called _Void Heart_ (and Katsuki had let out a cackle at the _ridiculous_ name he had given it) he expected some form of acknowledgement. Yet everyone instead laughed at how _du__mb _his quirk was, only changing his eyes into pits. Instead of breaking down like they had expected, he instead just continued staring with those _hollow_ eyes of his, before sitting down at his desk like usual. No one said anything after that, and the few comments that were thrown at him were instead ignored.

To make it worse, that idiot _still_ had delusions of going to UA and becoming a hero. Someone like him with a _useless_ quirk would never become a hero. That dumb Deku would _never_ ruin his chances at being the only from his school to make UA and becoming the top hero.

He couldn't _wait _for the entrance exam to put him in his place.

**/\/\/\/\ -7 Months Remain- /\/\/\/\**

Izuku hated himself right now. For someone who regularily records about quirks in his notebooks, and analyzes them, he was incredibly upset he hadn't thought about this sooner. He blamed his memories of the Knight not having access to his shade form sooner, which mentally blocked him from attempting this.

He finally made the obvious connection that maybe his Soul Abilities would work stronger in his Shade form. And to everyones obvious answer, it did.

Wow, he was a smart one.

When in his shade form, he was able to use Shade Soul, the upgrade to Vengeful Spirit, at regular capacity. It would however drain around 50% of his charge, and also eat away at his remaining time in his shade form. It dealt the damage he expected, however, so the trade-off for the damage was expected.

He didn't test it on his other two abilities, Desolate Dive would turn into Descending Dark, while Howling Wraiths would become Abyss Shreik. His estimations though made it seem he would lose around 75% of his soul and probably whatever time he had left in shade form.

Also, shade form had come with a new sort of problem. When practicing it one day, apparently some civilians had called the police on him once again, except this time they claimed they had seen a villain. With how he looked in shade form, he did cut an imposing figure, so it took some convincing that he wasn't truly a villain. It upset him that his quirk was categorized as something a villain might use, even while training it to be a hero.

As for progress in that front, he could hold his shade form for about 4 minutes now, not counting the drain from Shade Soul, which took around 2 minutes each use on his best estimates. Afterwards, he would be unable to use it for atleast 3 hours until his internal energy had stabilized. He still couldn't properly control all his tendrils, but he could atleast move two at once now. All in all, good progress. But he still hadn't found anything else among the scrap, and around 30% of the beach had been cleaned already.

Which meant he still didn't have his Nail damn it!

**/\/\/\/\ -5 Months Remain- /\/\/\/\**

Training was still not going as well as he hoped.

With no way to gather Vessel Fragments or something similar, he was unable to increase the amount of Soul energy he could carry. That limited the amount of tine he could spend making a style that worked with his shade form. With a lack of a Nail, he would need to rely on combat in his shade form, as even with his building muscle mass, he would be essentially fighting quirkless at that point.

That lead to the next problem. He had no practical way to test his new shade cloak style. With no actual opponent that may dodge, he could only theorize what options an enemy may take, and was unaware of what some of his openings may be.

In any case, he continued to clear away trash outside of his shade form. Almost half of the beach had been cleaned up so far, and the old man working the trucks had been kind enough to hand him a share of the money that he'd gathered through selling parts. It wasn't a huge sum, but it was enough that he was happy with. He still had no idea what he was going to do with the money anyways.

As was customary he was cleaning up the beach, while searching for anything he could use. At this point, he didn't spend nearly as much time searching as he did cleaning, already aware of the fact that almost half the beach was cleaned and nothing was found. He was hopeful, but he didn't expect anything now.

That was when he found it.

It was a small cracked bar of metal, no bigger than the length of his arm. It wasn't large by any means, but it wasn't standard steel or iron either. It reminded him much of something that his Nail was made of. Pale Ore. He had needed 6 pieces of Pale Ore to turn his trusty Nail into the Pure Nail it became. This was one piece, and while not Pale Ore, there was _something _about it that he felt. Shaking his head, he put it off to the side, content with his discovery. Finally he found something useful in these trash heaps. If he was _lucky_, he might be able to find enough pieces of this metal that he could recreate the Nail, or something similar at least.

Well, he knew what the money he was getting would be going towards.

**/\/\/\/\ -P.O.V Inko Midoriya- /\/\/\/\**

Something was wrong with her baby.

Ever since the discovery of his quirk, he's gotten a lot... quieter. That isn't to say he wasn't quiet before he had a quirk either. Yet before, at least with her, he would be emotional. Now, she would be lucky if she could get a smile out of him. Conversations were a lot shorter, him only speaking out in short sentences at once. Sure, he still had his mumbling habit that would show whenever he gets thinking too hard, but added with his eyes it only made him seem scarier. His once bright green eyes that held so much hope, were now the endless pits of black that she could never get a read on.

As much as she loved her son, when he had dreams of being a hero, she was devestated. She couldn't bear the thought of her son, quirkless as he was, trying to do such a dangerous job. Secretly, she was thankful he didn't have a quirk, as that meant he would have to do a job that would put him in less danger. Even if he were to become a policeman, she didn't mind, as they were never in the thick of things. They would support heroes from the sidelines, keeping civilians away and calling in said heroes for backup.

The past few months, he would come home a lot later than usual. For the first month, she would always get nervous and send out texts and calls, trying to make sure that he was uninjured. Every time, she got the same response. That he was training at the beach. For what, went unsaid as both knew what he was training for.

This was what had her conflicted.

All she wanted was the best for her boy. Now that he had a quirk, he could become a hero. Yet this new attitude that came with his quirk was unhealthy for him. That and she was more than a little scared that he would get himself seriously injured.

She did see the results of his training though. Through the past few months, she could see results visible in the muscles forming in his arms. What were once thin arms were slowly becoming larger muscles. Which was both good, and worrying. The few times she listened in to his mumbling, she could make out a few details.

Keywords such as Nail, Knight, Void and Soul were among them.

She had no idea what they meant, but she assumed that if it was harmful, her son would stay clear from them. After all, despite his new training regime, he managed to have extremely good marks though school. Even through his new personality, Izuku would remain a smart individual.

She sighed, before going back to her cooking. It was getting late at night now, and Izuku would be coming home soon enough. Even though she didn't _want_ her son to be a hero, wouldn't mean she would _stop_ him.

**/\/\/\/\ -2 Months Remain- /\/\/\/\**

Izuku stopped outside the doors of his destination, backpack slung around his shoulders. Over the last three months, he had gotten lucky and found an additional 5 pieces of the Pale Ore lookalike. While he had no idea how much he would actually need in order to get his weapon created, he hoped that like his Pure Nail, 6 would be a magic number.

He had spent the last few days looking extensively on the internet for a good blacksmith that could create his blade. While he _could_ go to any support company and have something created, he was a little wary about it. He was a student with very little credentials. Most support companies would laugh at him, before turning him away at the door. At the same time, many support companies that would accept him are not focused in mainly bladed weapons. They would be able to make a blade sure, but since they weren't specialized in them, he worried about what the end product might become.

As such, he searched specifically through blacksmiths in his local area. After weeding through a bunch and looking up reviews, he decided on one in particular that caught his interest. The blacksmith shop, lazily labelled as The Forge, was one that had seemily been opened for a long while. While it didn't have _many_ reviews, all reviews were a coinflip. They were either extremely positive, or extremely negative, yet they all had one overall similar comment. The blacksmith that worked there would only accept certain requests, and was very picky about it. Those requests that _were _accepted however had _incredible_ results. No blade that had left The Forge had been unworth the money spent. Then again, he had no idea how many of the weapons that had left were used for combat, and how many used as decoration.

Entering The Forge, he was immediately hit by a wave of heat. There was no counter or reception room, entering the doors lead straight to the work area. Working away at his current project was the lone blacksmith that worked there. He was a massive figure, standing taller than Izuku even aus he was slouched over his work. They had two huge goat horns coming from the tip of his head, large beard and moustache covering his face. His body was a dark red, seemingly heat resistant, as he held the red hot blade with no issues. Izuku mentally started filing away possible quirk analysis before the gruff figure looked up at him.

"Hi." Izuku greeted. The man just nodded at him. "I need a blade made." He continued to stare at him. Idly, Izuku noticed he was the first to stare into his eyes and flinch.

"What kind?" The deep rough voice asked. Izuku quickly pulled out his notebook, before ripping out the page with his sketch and measurements on it. He handed it off to the man, who took it and looked it over and raising an eyebrow. He turned back to Izuku, before asking another question. "Why?"

"Hero work." That was the wrong thing to say apparently. The man immediately scowled at his response.

"No." Seemingly finished with that line of conversation, he turned back to his current line of work. Izuku didn't leave, however.

"Why not?" He asked. The man's arm paused mid swing. His eyes turned to him and seeming glowed with fire behind them.

"Not worth my time. Go ask someone else."

"Please. I need the best. I even brought material." He took this time to open his bag, and brought out the 6 pieces of scrap metal. Izuku caught the man's eyes barely widen in shock, before he put down his hammer and walked over. Grabbing one of the pieces, he looked it over carefully before turning back to him.

"Where?" The man asked.

"The Beach. Why?" While he knew it was good metal, he was curious to what brought about the change of interest.

"An old.. Aquaintance used these." His face seemed to be wistful. Though he couldn't_ really _tell through all the facial hair. He stared hard at the metal, before seemingly taking two more from his bag. "Come back in a week."

"Huh?" The man had turned away, taking the 3 pieces of scrap with him. "Wait. What do I owe?"

"One week. Leave." The old project forgotten and moved away, the man took his sketch and brought it over to a table. There, he began to transfer the sketch onto a larger sheet, and began marking different things. Any attempt Izuku made to talk to him was seemingly ignored, so he shrugged before leaving with 3 remaining pieces of scrap.

He had no idea what to do with these.

...

One week later, he came back.

When he walked through the doors, he was just in time to see the blacksmith adding his final few touches. Chisel in hand, he was inscribing a shape into the flat of the blade. When he was finished, he took it over to a sander and smoothed out the edges. He watched in rapt attention for the next hour as he put the final touches.

Finally, he brought the finished blade over to Izuku.

The shape of the blade was the same, the arrowhead shape the same as he remembered. However the design on the flat side of the blade was a different design. Instead of the wild pattern of the Pure Nail, or even the spiral patterns from one of the previous form, the blacksmith had decided to imbed a symbol. Near the handle in the centre of a small circle was a small flame. That circle was designed to look like a spirit or animal of some kind that was coiled around and protecting the flame. Above that, in the top left and right were three sharp indents shaped like diamonds. Finally, above the the symbol ran two line that ran until the end of the blade, meeting near the tip.

He didn't know why he chose that design, but it probably meant something to the previous weilder of the weapon that it was forged from. Looking up, he saw the blacksmith pointing at him.

"Name." His rough voice called out.

"I-Izuku Midoriya."

"Not you." He shook his head, pointing again, and he quickly realized he meant the blade.

"It's called the Nail." Izuku happily said, only to frown when he saw the blacksmith shake his head again.

"Your old blade was the Nail. Not even name. Type. New blade, new name." Was his gruff response.

Well, thats fair he supposed. Having put a lot effort into the blade to make it unique, he wouldn't expect it to take on the name of his former blade. Though that _might_ be a problem as Izuku did not have a name in mind. He wasn't perticularily clever in naming things. The only two weapons he ever used were the Nail and Dream Nail, and he had seen Hornet's Needle as well. Spending a couple minutes, he went through a few names like Claw, Tooth and Shard. Eventually he settled on something.

"Spire." That got a nod from the blacksmith. Eventually Izuku asked. "What's your name? Are you an ex-hero?"

"..." The blacksmith stared at him for a bit. "Ornn. And no." He pointed towards the door. "Now get out."

"Wait! What about payment?" Izuku frantically asked.

"No need. Use blade well." Was Ornn's response. With that, the blacksmith turned and continued his work. Izuku stared at him for a bit longer, before grabbing Spire and heading to the beach.

...

At a full sprint, Izuku made it to the beach within the hour. He took Spire off his back and took some time inspecting it. It was the exact weight he remembered, fitting comfortable in his right hand. The weapon was made to be used in one hand, and he had the ability to use it in both if needed.

When he got there, he set up a spare fridge in a more open area. Making sure that there was enough space to move and nothing blocking the ground, he walked towards it. From its position on his back, he drew the blade and gave it a quick flourish, before dropping it down to his side. He took a deep breath in, then let it out.

Then he moved.

With instinctual movements, he ran forwards and swung his weapon. Two quick movements across his body, before he jumped. While above the fridge, he did another swing below him, using the force on the impact to propel him higher. Turning midair, on the way down he did one more vertical slash, cutting straight through to the ground before leaping backwards. There was a count of 3 seconds, before the fridge split into 8 different pieces. Looking down at Spire, a quick inspection showed no physical warping or damage to the blade. Izuku let out a rare smile. This was what he was waiting for.

**/\/\/\/\ -One Day Remains- /\/\/\/\**

Izuku grunted, as he placed the last piece of scrap onto the truck. He sighed in relief, before turning towards the beach. With the added use of Spire, he was able to cut down larger pieces of scrap into smaller chunks, making moving and cleaning the beach significantly easier.

Using his shade form, he was able to move larger chunks and some smaller pieces at once. He was now able to move 2 of his tendrils while still keeping use of his hands. Shade form could now last up to 5 minutes, with each use of Shade Soul still taking 2 minutes of his for amd 50% of his soul charge. Unfortunately, he was unable to use Spire in shade form, with his hands shifting into claws. It was however able to stick onto his back, and even followed him through dashes.

A good chunk of the last 2 months was also spent practicing with the Spire. Getting used to using the weapon with both hands, as well as using it while attacking with Vengeful Soul in his offhand, which gave him different options since he was unable to dash outside of shade form. Sadly, Spire wasn't quite as sharp as the Pure Nail was, but it was still better than his base Nail. Last week he had gone to UA to register his weapon and had been given the okay. Though he will need to show off the blade to staff to prove its untampered with.

He went to sit down on the bench that started it all. Looking off at the beach, it was a clear and beautiful sight, unrecognizeable as the landfill it was. Drawing his weapon and trailing a hand along it lightly. Tomorrow was the day of the entrance exam.

Izuku was more than ready to pass.

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

**A/N - While this is heavily Hollow Knight based, I tweaked and modified abilities to make him seem strong but not overly op.**

**Shade form in the game is very unexplored, only shown during dashes, when you die or certain cutscenes. I always thought it looked cool so I took some creative liberties. He can be hit in shade form, but not while dashing. Takes the same damage as regular but have less visible wounds.**

**Also Ornn/Irelia easter egg for his weapon. Not relevant really but I thought it was ****a fun way to make his weapon meaningful.**


	2. Void Entrance - 2

**A/N - Wow. There's more Hollow Knight fans that read MHA than I thought. Neat.**

**Also somehow this reached 100 follows already. Also neat.**

**Can't wait to see how I ruin this story and the game lore somehow.**

**I don't own Hollow Knight or My Hero Academy. They are owned by Team Cherry and Kohei Horikoshi respectively.**

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

Izuku stared up at the grand building that was UA, entranced. Sure, he had seen it a week ago when he had come to register his blade, but he couldn't deny the sight wasn't something to see. Complete with a wall and large gate, the building truly was worth being called the best hero school in Japan. Distantly, it reminded him in some way of the White Palace with how stylistic it looked. He hoped there was less spikes here though.

Doing a quick check to make sure that Spire was hooked onto his back properly, he began walking. The exam would be starting soon, and he didn't want to be late in getting there.

"Out of my way, Deku!"

He turned, only to see Kacchan (Katsuki Bakugo) approaching him.

"You ready-" Izuku started to ask, before the collar of his shirt was grabbed. Katsuki pulled him closer before snarling.

"Ruin this for me and you're dead Deku!" He growled out, before shoving him out of the way. Unprepared for the sudden movement, he started tripping slightly losing his balance. Preparing to do a roll to regain his balance, he was confused when he never felt the solid ground below him. Turning slightly, he saw a short girl with brown bobcut hair staring at him.

"I-I'm sorry!" She stammered, freezing up upon meeting his eyes. "I used my quirk on you... It'd be a bad omen for you to trip and fall..." She quietly got out as he stared at her. Letting go of her quirk, Izuku fell lightly to the ground on his feet. He watched as Katsuki stormed off into the building, before turning back to the girl, who let out a small noise at being the centre of his attention.

"Thanks." He let out, while giving a small bow. The girl nodded meekly before running off herself into the building.

_"Well, at least today will be interesting." _He mused.

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

Izuku came out of the written exam extremely confident. He was always at the top of his class in terms of grades, and he was sure that he had gotten at minimum 95%. A quick glance around when he had finished told him that he had been amongst the first to finish as well.

Now, they were being led towards a large theatre room, where the explanation for the practical exam would begin. People were being seated next to those that they were at school with, so Izuku unluckily found himself sitting beside one Katsuki Bakugo. Who was talking it just as well as he was, if the "friendly" growling was any indication. He tried his best to ignore him until the presentation began.

A few moments later, a familiar face (to him at least) walked onto stage. The blonde haired man, wearing sunglesses and a boombox around his neck, began.

"Welcome everyome to today's live performance! Can I get a 'HEY!'from the crowd?!"

He held his hand up to his ear, and was meant with a resounding silence. A few snickers was heard from the crowd, before the man continued on as if he wasn't just brutally rejected.

"That's great! I'm here to give you all the run down on today's practical exam! So listen up!"

_"Pro Hero: Hizashi Yamada_

_President Mic 'Voice Hero'_

_Quirk: Voice. Allows him to Increase the volume of his voice, giving him the ability of a sonic scream. It is loud enough to cause ears to bleed from large distances._

_Power: 3/5_

_Speed: 2/5_

_Technique: 4/5_

_Intelligence: 5/5_

_Cooperativeness: 5/5"_

Izuku analyzed. Even through his new training on the beach, he had found some time to do quirk analysis (not hero otaku he reasoned) on pro heroes. It helped that he used to do the same in Hallownest with the Hunter's Journal, which he planned to recreate. Hearing Bakugo let out an annoyed growl, he turned his attention back to Present Mic.

"This is how your test will go!" Pushing a button, a slideshow appeared on screen behind him. "You'll be entering a 10 minute villain simulation! Each of you will be assigned to a different block where your test will be taken! None of those from consecutive numbers will be in the same block!"

A quick glance at Katsuki showed the clear irritation on his face. "You live this time." Was muttered by him. The screen flashed, drawing both of their attention back to the presentation. On the new slide, there were pictures of various shapea with numbers 1-3 on them.

"All of these testing blocks will be a fake city filled with various types of faux villains! Each type gives off points from 1 to 3 depending on the number, so it will be a scramble to grab them! Use your quirks to the fullest and take them down! Of course, attacking or inhibiting others is forbidden in this test and will nullify any points you have gained!" President Mic explained

"_So it's like a hunting test. To see our abilitt to take out villains. Interesting, but very specific to combat based quirks. Quirks like Mandalay's search would be useless. Why make it purely combat focused?" _Izuku wondered.

"Sir! May I ask a question?" A voice called out. All eyes turned to a blue haired boy, who had stood up.

"I hadn't asked for them yet, but sure. What's wrong little listener?" Mic asked.

"On the handouts we recieved there appears to be four villains specified! Such a blatant error is highly unbecoming of an establishment such as UA! How could we hope to become model heroes if our school makes mistakes!" The boy shouted, before turning towards Izuku. He saw the boy slightly flinch when their eyes met, but he continued his rant anyways. "Also you, curly green hair! You've been muttering on and off! If you're not going to take this seriously please leave! You are distracting everyone!"

Blinking, Izuku turned to Bakugo, who gave an annoyed nod. Had he really been muttering this whole time? He hadn't noticed at all. Turning back to the blue haired boy, he gave a slight bow in apology, but nothing else. Being called out like that in front of everyone wasn't polite after all. That seemed to annoy the boy, but before he could say anything else, Present Mic began talking.

"Alright! Calm down! Thank you for your input examinee #7111! However if you had just waited a moment, I was going to get to that! So sit down and listen!" With that, the next slide clicked into place, a picture of a large robot with a 0 on it.

"Yes sir! Sorry sir!" The boy shouted, before sitting down stiffly in his seat.

"The last faux villain is different from all the others. This one is the zero pointer, and is more so used as an obstacle! Defeating it will grant you no points, so don't waste your time on it! Each location will have one in it, and it will rampage in close corners, so be careful!"

Excited murmurs were sent along the crowd. Everyone was excited as this seemed to be set up like a game.

"That's all the info we got, so be prepared to go to your location! And remember the schools motto! Plus Ultra!" Present Mic signed off. As students started to get up, he snapped his fingers. "Oh, right! Any students with a support gear of some kind, please stay behind so we can make sure they were properly registered!"

As the theatre began clearing out, only a handful of students remained behind to register support gear, Izuku being one of them. After a few moments, one by one students were called into a side room, before leaving shortly after. When Izuku was finally called on, he stepped in the room to come face to face with the pro hero Power Loader.

"Hey there kid!" He spoke when entering the room. "Now, hand me your sheets and we can get this over with quickly!"

Handing over the documents, he saw the pro hero read over them quickly, before nodding his head.

"Good, seems in order. Can I see this 'Spire'?"

Taking the weapon off his back, he placed it onto the table. A whistle of admiration was given from Power Loader as he inspected the blade.

"24" blade length, handle adds a couple on to that. A bit of a weird shape for a sword, looks kind of like an arrow. The material and the way the blade was made is extremely well done though. Props to whoever made this." He prattled off. Finally, he nodded before holding the weapon towards Izuku. "Don't see anything off about it except that it's a fine weapon. I assume it helps with your quirk?"

"No." Izuku shook his head, causing Power Loaders eyebrow to raise and pull the weapon back slightly.

"No? But the rules state that only support gear that helps your quirk can be used. Who told you that you could bring this?" He asked.

"Nezu did. Said it'd be interesting." Izuku replied. At that Power Loaders eyes opened wide, before unconciously handing the blade off. A few seconds later and Izuku was out the door, nodding in thanks.

_'Why would Nezu let something like that through?__' _He wondered. Well, there were still more gear to process, so he shrugged his shoulders and waited for the next student. He'd have to keep an eye out

Anything that Nezu finds interesting is sure to bring trouble.

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

Arriving at test site 5, he saw the location that they were going to use. There was a huge fake city, with some buildings being as tall as 12 stories high. A group of students were all gathered near the entrance, all psyching themselves up for the incoming test. Most of them seemed ready to go, all confident in their quirks and equipment that will lead the to pass. Izuku was taking his time to inspect Spire, making sure it was ready to go.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the same brown haired girl from the start of the day, talking to herself to try and get over her nerves. She occasionally took a peek at everyone else, but always seemed to flinch and look away when her eyes met Izuku. He shrugged, not really putting too much thought into it, when all of a sudden he heard a now annoyingly familiar voice.

"You there!" He felt a hand grab his shoulder. Turning to look, his suspicious were confirmed when the same blue haired boy had grabbed him. Izuku tilted his head in a silent question. "Why are you here? Are you supposed to be a villain to mess with us? You are clearly disrupting a few peoples focus!" The boy shouted out at him. With the attention on him, he could see many people pointedly not staring at his eyes, all with upset faces.

"Taking the test" He calmly stated back, but narrowing his eyes. "Like the rest. Why call me out when I did nothing?"

"You were muttering before as a distraction! Plus you look like a villain with those eyes!" The boy restated.

Izuku internally sighed. He realized that with the change from being quirkless to his current state, he would still somehow find a way for others to single him out. 'Villanous Quirks' were something that society had claimed were evil quirks used and meant for villains. Due to his void like eyes, people would assume he was a villain instead of a hero, simply because they were frightening. It certainly wouldn't help in the future, as to rise the ranks you needed to be popular. This was part of the reason he was glad that Spire was allowed. If they were this scared of just his eyes, what would his actual quirk do? Scaring away potential savees would not help him. He went to open his mouth, but suddenly a loud buzzer went off.

"And start!" Present Mic's voice called out. The doors to the large fake city swung open. All the students stood around confused for a moment. All but one, as Izuku with Spire drawn had already ran forwards and made his way inside.

"What are you all waiting for?" Present Mic screamed out. "There's no countdowns in heroics! The tests already started!" Looking over, he could faintly see Izuku in the background, facing down a three pointer. After a couple of beats, both went into action. The robot swung it's fist at it, which Izuku nimbly dodged befote cutting at the joints of the arm, rendering it useless. Taking the extra time bought, he swiftly finished it off by cutting off the head. Present Mic smiled and pointed at him. "Look, someone's already begun! Clock's ticking folks!" With that, the students all began to rush forwards, intent on collecting points.

Izuku had already made his way deeper into the city. In the first three minutes, he had managed to collect around 20 points. So far, this had been no more different that when he had to fill out his Hunter's Journal. None of the robots he'd found so far were of any difficulty to deal with, having faced against harder odds before. The one pointers were easy to maneuver around, and he could deal with them in his sleep. Two pointers were sturdier, but the joints connecting their limbs were weak spots that he exploited before stabbing them in the head. Three pointers took some time, having to actually dodge potentially harmful attacks. Plus, they seemed to have extra sensors and were more aware of their surroundings. Still, with careful movements he was able to defeat a couple. He took a few seconds to check out a few of the other students in the area.

Blue haired boy was dashing around at fast speeds, using the momentum in his kicks to deal large damage. He made note of the engines in his calves that probably helped augment that.

Brown haired girl was using her 'Float' quirk from earlier to lift the robots before supposedly cancelling it. The resulting crashes left the robots disposed of, making her point count rise.

He was even able to make out a silver haired girl with seemingly no clothing except gloves and boots on. Taking a second to blink at that to make sure he _wasn't_ just seeing things, he realized that the 1 and 2 pointers seemingly couldn't see her, as she snuck sround and disabled the robots via a switch on their heads. Quickly getting his hormones under control (as he was still a teenage boy), he looked away. Probably an invisibility quirk of some kind. Which left him wondering why he could see her.

There were a few others in the nearby area, one with multiple arms like a pokemon would have, or even someone with extendo arms and tazer fists, and his mind went into overdrive analyzing as many quirks as he could. A shame he didn't have a notebook on him right now. Some of them were super interesting.

"Only 5 minutes left!" He heard Present Mic call out.

Oh.

How long had he been watching other people instead of acting on his own. Lightly cursing his inner quirk analyst (quirk otaku), he continued forwards. While he didn't want to block anyone else's chances by destroying more robots, he did need to make sure he had enough points himself to pass. After all, he may have overheard some people with upwards of 40 points already.

**/\/\/\/\ P.O.V ??? /\/\/\/\**

The teacher's were all together in a screening room, watching the multiple monitors that were showing the exams off.

"Such a large battlefield with limited time, always forces students to act in their best interest." One of them called out. A deeper male voice beloning to the #1 hero, All Might.

"Yes, but watching some in youthful panic is simply... delightful." A female voice, belonging to the R rated hero Midnight.

"Yet, each of them still play towards their strengths." He himself spoke out, seemingly tired. "Those that are information gatherers have destroyed large packs at once that noone has foubd. Some are speedsters, and can always show up when needed. Some are just natural born warriors that can deal with the situation. All these are a type of hero."

"And yet, defeating villains is not the only thing that a hero needs to be." A different male voice called out, belonging to Vlad King.

"Indeed. In which case, why don't we finally make things interesting." A high pitched voice called out. All eyes turned to them, as they pull up a glass case covering a button, which he proceeded to press. "When faced with an unwinnable situation, how will they react?" The voice began laughing eagerly awaiting what was to come.

All of the teachers slightly moved away from him. They unanimously agreed the the principal, Nezu, was strange. The dog/mouse/bear thing had a quirk called High Spec, making them extremely intelligent. Yet they couldn't tell if that was what caused his personality to be so... eccentric.

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

"Two minutes and thirty seconds remaining!" Present Mic called out.

Izuku walked through the city, eyes searching every corner. The test was now winding down, with barely any robots left to destroy. He had found himself at a comfortable 35 point line. Hopefully that would be enough to pass, as even as he was searching, he couldn't find any others. He went to sheathe Spire on his back, mentally applauding himself for a job well done.

Then he felt the rumbling of the Earth and he cursed himself for jinxing it. All students in the nearby area has stopped what they were doing. Turning, they all looked in the direction that loud crashes were coming from. Suddenly, a giant robot came crashing through the streets, destroying buildings nearby and causing rubble to drop below. The robot was clearly marked with a giant zero on it. It was slowly making it's way towards the students.

Then the panic began.

Students began running away, desperate to get to safety. All sense of honor had flow out the window, with students shoving each other in order to get away faster. Izuku had been part of this group too, but he hadn't been running away. Rather, at a slower pace, he had been walking forwards while taking the time to help others who had fallen over. He wasn't particularily scared of the zero pointer, after all, he had faced worse in his opinion. However, he saw no real reason to defeat it as everyone had seemingly been fine escaping it and it wasn't worth the points.

That's when things started to go wrong.

**/\/\/\/\ P.O.V Power Loader /\/\/\/\**

Power Loader watched on as Nezu was laughing like a maniac. The dog/mouse/bear thing was watching the screens in glee as the students had started to run in panic.

"Are we sure that the zero pointers are safe?" He heard All Might ask. The larger man was looking on in trepidation as the robots went on a tear through the cities.

Having designed the robots them, he knew what they were capable of. His instructions were: make them large and scary, but make sure that there's a safety net involved.

"Of course! Power Loader made sure that all zero pointers would be shut down if I pressed this button again." Nezu affirmed excitedly, pointing to the same button that had released them.

"With a threat like that looming above them, people show their true colors." He heard Vlad King say, watching a screen of students shoving each other in order to flee. "Save for a few who are ignoring the issue, everyone is running away."

"Everyone but one."

All eyes turned to Eraserhead when he said spoke. He was staring at one monitor in particular. Everyone else turned to watch. On screen was a green haired boy, a sword in hand. Unlike all the others fleeing from the giant robot, he had been walking forwards, seemingly unafraid. They noticed that he was helping those who had fallen over, yet instead of thanks, most were calling him crazy or flinching at his eyes.

"That's Izuku Midoriya." Power Loader found himself speaking. "He registered that sword despite it not being complimentary of his quirk."

Eraserhead raised an eyebrow at that. "And you let him take it despite it being against the rules?"

"Hey! I got distracted! He said that Nezu found him interesting!" He defended himself. With that, all eyes shifted to their principal, who giggled at the attention.

"It's true!" Nezu admitted. "We had quite the lovely chat about quirks when he came to register his blade."

"What did you talk about?" All might asked.

"Well..."

...

_Nezu had been sitting at his desk, getting some of the final bits of paperwork done fr the oncoming entrance exams. He was busy working away, until he heard a knock on the door. Pausing, he called out. "Come in!" The doors opened to reveal a student with green hair with endless black pits for eyes. He walked up slowly to the desk, and sat down at Nezu's behest. "So, you're not a student here. What brings you into my humble establishment?"_

_"I want to register support gear." Was the boy's response. Straight and to the point._

_"Of course. Those who need it for their quirk are allowed one piece of support gear to complement them." He rummaged around in his desk, before pulling out a form. Handing it over, he noticed the pause from the boy. "Something wrong?"_

_They sat in silence for a couple seconds, before the boy looked up. "My weapon doesn't compliment my quirk." He stated._

_"Ah, that could be a problem." Nezu tapped his hands on the desk. "What kind of weapon is it?"_

_"A Na- A sword." The child stumbled over his words._

_"A sword huh..." Nezu looked thoughtful, purposely ignoring the slipup for later, before asking another question. "What is your name?"_

_"Izuku Midoriya."_

_"Ah, I remember reading your application. Recently you acquired your quirk hmm?" At a nod, he continued. "Which means you may not have much experience with it. Did you know how to use one before or after you had a quirk?"_

_"Before. Why?" The boy tilted his head, not knowing where this conversation was going._

_"Well, I was just wondering if you were trying to avoid usuing your quirk, since you don't know how. After all, since it's newly discovered, it stands that you wouldn't be able to use it? Which is why you plan to use a sword, correct?" Nezu smiled at him, expecting his suspicions confirmed. Yet he was surprised to see the boy shake his head._

_"No. I use my weapon because I don't want to use it, not because I can't."__ He corrected._

_Nezu blinked at that response. "Why wouldn't you want to use your quirk?" At that, the boy stopped staring at the ground and met his eyes straight on. When he got no reaction, he shook his head._

_"People think quirks make them villains. Mine may be a case." He stopped for a moment, before continuing. "Also, I want to prove something."_

_"Prove what?" Nezu asked curiously._

_"Prove th__em wrong."_

_That didn't quite answer Nezu's question, but before he could ask him to elaborate, the boy had taken the forms and left._

...

"With that, he took the form and left." Nezu finished. "He was very stiff. Short sentences and little emotion in his voice. Not what I expect from a child."

"The kid's not bad." Vlad King spoke up. "Gathering 35 villian points with the use of his sword. Quite skilled with it to. Managed to fight all types of robots and come out with no injuries. Wonder if it has any special properties?"

"No, nothing weird about it other than it's shape. Just a really well made sword." Power Loader denied.

"Yet the sword can cut through other metals as if they are butter." All Might countered.

"I'll admit... The metal the weapon is made of is very high quality. Much more than what I made those robots out of." Power Loader admitted. "Plus, he's mostly aiming for joints, clearly hitting the weaker parts."

"Something's happening." Eraserhead cut in. Once again all eyes shifted to one monitor.

The zero pointer was still doing it's job, crashing through buildings and causing chaos between the students. However they were getting a lot closer to some of them who were slower to respond. A brown haired girl had tripped, and a small piece of rubble from the building had fallen on top of her, pinning her down.

With experienced eyes, they noticed how no one had moved to help her, instead taking the time to continue searching for more robots to destroy, or still running from the zero pointer. All except two people.

The girl with the invisibilty quirk (Toru Hagakure, made visible by only a few articles of clothing) had made her way over to the trapped girl. Her hands were moving in erratic movements, trying to get the other girls attention. In panic, the brown haired girl (Ochaco Uraraka) used her quirk to make the rubble weightless, and pushed the rubble off herself before seemingly turning it off, face looking green and about to throw up. However she didn't notice the invisible girl at all and instead put her underneath the rubble, with no way of escape. With the zero pointer slowly moving forward, and now dangerously close, she was now stuck in it's path of destruction and her invisibility certainly wasn't helping at this point.

"Shut it off! Now!" All Might called, rushing forward to hit the button. He was stopped by multiple people, both Eraserhead and Nezu reaching out.

Izuku Midoriya had begun to move.

**/\/\/\/\ P.O.V Izuku Midoriya /\/\/\/\**

Watching the entire interaction, he was mildly disappointed to see the brown haired girl who helped him this morning panic. In her desperation to escape, she had accidentally thrown another person under the bus. The giant robot continued it's rampage towards the fallen girl, who had no way herself to move the rubble.

He had hoped he wouldn't have to use his abilities this early. Initially, he wanted to try and prove that his skill with his Nail would be enough to make him a spot in the hero course. That, and he would be able to keep the nature of his shade form in check. Everyone who had seen it had labelled him a villain due to it's nature. But he wasn't selfish enough to not use it if someone was in trouble. Part of being a hero meant doing what you could to save someone after all.

While he had some speed, the distance between him and the trapped girl was too large to close with just his natural run. So with no more hesitation, he focused his powers and began running. Feeling his inner energy of the void surge, his shade form came alive, shifting his body into the inky black shadows it represents. Horns and claws extended, with four dark tendrils flowing from his back and eyes turning pure white. He heard some gasps in shock from behind him, but ignored it in favour of running forwards. The zero pointer was now on top of the girl, and their foot came up, ready to stomp down on her.

Quickly, he dashed forward in a dark blur, and made it underneath the giant robots foot just in time. Claws extended, he reached up and grabbed his leg with both hands. Despite using all his strength, the zero pointer's leg still pressed down slowly, so he used two tendrils that he could control and dug them into the ground for more stability. A couple seconds more, and eventually the two came to a stalemate, and with a quick burst, shoved the leg backwards slightly. Unbalanced, the zero pointer stumbled backwards before falling, allowing Izuku to catch a quick breath and check on the girl. Using his claws, he quickly moved the heavy debris from crushing her.

"Can you walk?" He asked quickly, eyes still locked onto the zero pointer, but the girl visible in the corner of his vision. Quietly, he noticed that she hadn't flinched upon rescue.

She tried to stand, only to cry out in pain and fall over again. "N-No. I think my leg's broken." She got out, gloves holding her leg in pain. Traces of blood could be seen along the appendage.

Turning quickly to look back at the other students, he saw the blue haired boy that insulted him earlier. "Hey! Can you help!" He called out.

The slight flinch when their eyes met annoyed him, and the slight hesitation to move, before the blue haired boy turned away and ran off in search of more robots. Izuku made a tsk of disappointment, seeing other students take his lead in search of more points, before turning back to the zero pointer. The time he took calling for help, it had slowly stood up, and now its sensors were solely on him. It let out a loud mechanical WHIRR, and its fist reared back. Thinking fast, he let out a quick "Sorry." before picking the girl up carefully and jumping out of the way. He heard her make a squeak of surprise, before feeling her arms wrap around his neck tightly to make sure she didn't fall.

The place they just were moments ago was crushed under the weight of the robotic arm in a loud crash, before the zero pointer let out another loud WHIRR and gave chase towards them, knocking over and destroying more of the surrounding buildings. Deciding that the zero pointer wouldn't change targets now that he'd apparently angered it, he took a side path that led away from most of the students. The less casualties that he could cause, the better.

Taking the zero pointer further into the town, he quickly began running through his options. He didn't have the power outside shade form to deal significant damage with Spire, and without the speed increase and dashes in shade form, he doubted he could pull it off. Dealing with larger enemies using the Nail had required many hits, patience and time, the latter of which he didn't currently have. Shade Soul would do some damage, but with only two uses it may not be enough. Usually, attacking enemies with a Nail would fill his Soul Meter, but the feeling of being re-filled was absent when attacking the faux villains. Apparently, since robots were not organic, they did not have any essence to leech from. That left him with two options. Using an Abyss Shriek from below or a Descending Dark from above. With most likely no time to climb a building, he'd have to settle with the former. However, he would only have one shot, and he would need to find a place to leave the girl in his arms since it would put her in danger.

Speaking of the girl, he was trying really hard to ignore the feeling of her in his arms. Despite being in shade form, he could still feel what his claws and body felt. She was clinging tightly to him, and both had luckily forgotten her lack of clothes in the intense nature of their situation. He needed to find a moment where he could safely leave her.

Giving a quick look over his shoulder, he saw the villain still giving chase, ramming through buildings like a bull seeing red. Given its size, he was surprised to see it be slightly faster than him, the distance between them shortening without constant turns. Looking around the area, he realized he was coming up to one of the walls of the fake city. A dead end. Another quick look showed that there were no alternate paths to take, now stuck in a single corridor with the zero pointer. Somehow, the robots programming recognized that, and it started preparing for a final charge.

Izuku had never tried to dash with another in his arms before. He didn't even know if it would work. But now he had no other options. He couldn't jump high enough to clear any of the nearby walls, and without his Mantis Claws or Monarch Wings, he had no extra vertical mobility. So preparing, he stared at the zero pointer, getting ready to sprint forwards.

"Wait! What are you doing?!" The girl in his arms called out in fright. He didn't answer. "You can't charge it! It will kill us!" No response. "Say something!" She called out desperately.

A couple seconds of silence. "Hold tight." Was all he said.

At that moment, both Izuku and the zero pointer charged forwards, the latter intent on destroying their target. The girl in his arms _screame__d _as they ran forwards towards the giant machine. Izuku let two of his tendrils wrap around the girls waist, and the second before contact, _shifted_ in his a dash fully enveloped in the powers of the shade cloak. Focusing hard on the girl in his arms with the power of the void, he pushed and felt her temporarily shift with him, and they both passed _through_ the giant robot, landing on the other side. Right after Izuku's feet touched the ground, he pulled back his power slightly, feeling and seeing the girl shift back into her previous look. He could feel her shiver in his arms, out of discomfort. It clearly was an unpleasant experience, but at that moment he didn't really have a choice.

The zero pointer could not stop its momentum, and such fully crashed into the wall. Being the outer wall of the fake city, it was made of more durable materials, and took the brunt of the blow, knocking the zero pointer down once again. Finding his chance, Izuku retraced his steps and quickly ran back to the main entrance of the town, reuniting with most of the students who looked at him oddly. Placing the girl down lightly near them, he let out another quick apology, before turning just in time to see the giant robot coming for revenge in the distance. Hopefully, another examinee would help the clearly injured girl, as he had more pressing concerns. Internally, he could feel that his time in shade form was almost running out of time, which confused him as he mentally knew he could hold it for 5 minutes. Yet, he hadn't heard Present Mic call off the test as complete, so maybe not much time had passed.

Passing it off as something due to dashing with a passenger, which he had never tested before, he reached his limit of how much he could handle dealing with the giant robot. Running towards it again, it roared out in fury and went for another punch. He slipped past it, and used his claws to rip a chunk out of the joint by its hand. Yet, this didn't seem to do much of anything, and the robot tried once again to crush him with a stomp. Unfortunately for the machine, this was what Izuku had been waiting for. Easily dashing past and underneath its leg, he got underneath the base of the zero pointer and charged up an attack he had yet to practice in this world. Yet, hours of muscle memory not from him made it easier to pull off. Channeling the energies, he lifted his head, feeling the entirety of his Soul charge put into this attack.

And then he _shrieked._

**/\/\/\/\ P.O.V Power Loader /\/\/\/\**

He felt his jaw ache. He knew it was because his mouth had been wide open in shock. A quick movement from his eyes confirmed that most of the room had the same expression as him.

The first shock came from the shift into another form. Quickly, all the heroes realized just why the boy said what he did with Nezu. Looking as if it was pure darkness, Midoriya had gone from slightly odd to look at, to downright terrifying. Black horns and pure white eyes, along with dark claws and extra appendages. The clear increase in speed was noticable, having made it in time to stop the robot from crushing Hagakure.

That the kid had saved the girl from the zero pointer had been no real surprise. That was something they all at least _slightly_ expected. If not, they would have already hit the emergency shutdown button. In fact, they almost _had_ when the two had become cornered in the dead end. Even Eraserhead had wanted to stop it at that point. Yet Nezu had insisted they continue, eyes rapt in attention and interest.

They watched as Izuku somehow temporarily changed the form of the girl to his own, and then they shifted _through_ the zero pointer, much like another quirk they knew. Using the time gained from stunning it against the wall, he safely removed Hagakure from the area, before seemingly moving to stall the robot from ruining the test for others. Then he had gotten underneath it, and unleashed his attack.

They weren't any audio connected to any of the screens. With multiple monitors and cameras connected to many different testing sights, they wouldn't be able to listen in to every one. Yet, if the fact that every student, including a couple from other arenas and Present Mic (who was known for being loud) had covered their ears, it had been quite loud. The attack itself was also terrifying. What had erupted from the boy had seemingly been ghosts or wraiths of some kind. Pure black spirits had burst forth from the boys eyes and mouth, and had ripped the zero pointer to shreds. For three whole seconds, they were unleashed and destroyed everything above him, most of the robot disappearing amongst the black, the rest remaining behind as scrap. After the time was up, they seemingly receded into the boy, who instantly reverted back into his regular form. A large majority of the robot was now nowhere to be seen, seemingly vanishing from existence. No one had seen him draw it, too busy staring at the wraiths that he had summoned, but his sword had been drawn, prepared to continue fighting if need be. Yet, he was clearly unsteady on his feet if the slight swaying and heavy panting was anything to note.

When he finally let out a breath of relief and sat down hard on the floor, Spire being placed gently beside him, they all worried for a second. A quick look had shown that other students were now winding down, and they realized that Present Mic had called the end of the exam. Everyone looked at the clock and saw the time as 4:02.

No one had realized that they had extended the exam an extra two minutes.

**/\/\/\/\ P.O.V Izuku Midoriya /\/\/\/\**

_'That was harder than It needed to be' _Izuku internally thought.

Taking care of the zero pointer in the end had been easy. Finally catching it alone, he let loose with the full blast of Abyss Shriek. While he expected the blast to disable the robot, he hadn't realized just how powerful using it in shade form would be. The robot had been _disentigrated_ in some parts, and the rest by the edges had been turned to useless scrap. A quick look around had shown that it was apparently loud to use. Having never needed to worry about that before, he supposed that it made sense in a way.

He would need to apologize to that girl. When they were cornered, the only solutuon he had to keep her safe was apparently to test his shade cloak on her. Something that could have _easily_ gone wrong. It had certainly tired him out to do it, but he used the power of the void to temporarily shift her into a shade form, which probably didn't feel nice. The first few times he remembered transforming into it had certainly felt... Off. Not really able to put it to words, it didn't feel cold, but more _empty_ than anything.

Right now though, he was tired from all the running around. Sitting down as soon as he heard the signal, letting Spire rest by his side. The weapon had clung to his back while in shade form, and while didn't quite understand _how_, he wasn't complaining. In fact, he must have unconciously shifted the weapons form too, since it had somehow followed him through the robot. Izuku knew he didn't have the best stamina, something he'd have to work on, and was content with a quick break.

Looking around, he finally noticed that no one had moved from their positions. All around students were staring at him. Everyone of them had faces of shock or horror at what he did.

_"He took it out in one blow!"_

_"That was terrifying to watch!"_

_"Did you hear that scream! It was haunting!"_

_"__That form of his was so scary!"_

_"__We're lucky we weren't in his way! He could have killed us!"_

_"No one will like a hero that scares them!"_

He could hear the various students gossip amongst themselves. Sighing internally, Izuku tried his best to ignore them. None of them had seen that he used it in order to save someone. Or, if they had, apparently they had forgotten about it that quickly in favor of quirk prejudice.

"Are you hurt, dearie?" He heard a voice call beside him. Startled, he turned is head and saw an older lady, one he easily recognized.

"No, Recovery Girl. Just tired." He responded.

"Is that so?" The youthful heroine mused. "In that case, take one of these." She handed him what looked to be a simply gummy bear. "It will make you feel energized." With that, she turned to leave. Before she could though, he stopped her.

"Is she okay?" He asked. Recovery girl turned and raised an eyebrow.

"Who? Oh the invisible one? Yes, dearie she's fine. My quirk healed her leg right up! Already up and left." Recovery girl smiled. He nodded at that. Once again, his mind pulled out the notes he had analyzed for his journals.

_"Pro Heroine: Chiyo Shuzenji_

_Recovery Girl 'Youthful Heroine'_

_Quirk: Heal_ _Allows __anyone who she kissed to heal injuries in cost for their stamina. She was the main medic in staff of U.A._

_Power: 1/5_

_Speed: 1/5_

_Technique: 5/5_

_Intelligence: 5/5_

_Cooperativeness: 4/5"_

"Are you sure you're okay dearie? You're muttering. Maybe a concussion?" Recovery girl asked again. He blinked, before shaking his head no. Somehow, he needed to learn to stop muttering. "You best be headed home then. Results will show up in a week!" With that, she walked off to check on other students. Izuku stared for a couple seconds, before picking up Spire and heeding her suggestion.

**/\/\/\/\ One Week Later /\/\/\/\**

He wasn't nervous about his results. The written portion he had finished with ease, and he had a safe amount of points in the practical. There's no way that he _didn't_ pass, so he wasn't nervous at all.

That's what he kept telling himself anyways.

Realizing that he had fully cleaned off the beach, he had no idea what to do in his spare time. Most of the past 9 months had been spent there cleaning, so he was left temporarily hobbyless. After the first couple of days, he decided he would recreate the hunter's journal, or at least as much as he could remember. Thanks to art lessons from Paintmaster Sheo, he was quite confident in his artistic abilities. Including the many hours of doodling for both quirks and maps, his drawing skills had become nothing to scoff at. While not professional level, they were still extremely well done, so he was able to properly draw his old foes. Though he started 5 days ago, the journal was only 10 entries filled, as he also spent some time filling his hero journals too, something he admits he forgot in lieu of the beach being fully cleaned.

Speaking of the beach, he tried to spend any extra time there practicing with Spire. Unfortunately, with the beach being cleaned, there was a huge increase of tourists and civilians who came by. As such, he would need to find a new place to practice in peace. After all, no one would want to see him swinging a weapon around in public.

"Izuku!" He heard his mother call from the other room, interrupting his thoughts. Looking up, he saw her open the door to his room, an envelope in her hand. "I-It's here!"

"Thanks." Izuku said, giving a small smile. Gently taking the envelope from his mother's hand, he went back to his desk before ripping it open. Inside was not a letter like he had expected, but a small metal disk. Before he could touch it, it lit up, seemingly activated on its own. A few seconds later, a hologram video appeared above it, showing All Might, dressed in an extremely fancy suit and tie.

"This is a projection!" He shouted out. "Yes! I'm sure you're wondering why I am the one in this video! Well, starting this year, I will be becoming a teacher at U.A"

Izuku blinked at that. He wasn't going to lie, he was still a bit bitter about being told he couldn't be a hero. Even if it _was_ the truth at the time. Recently, he had gotten rid of most of his All Might merchandise and lost a lot of his worship for the number 1 hero. Instead, his room had drawings of different people and places in his time in Hallownest. Posters and figures of other pro heros like Mirko, Ryuku and Best Jeanist were also there.

"I am here to give you, Izuku Midoriya your test results! For the written portion, you passed with flying colors! 98/100, making you third place among all your peers! For the practical portion, you had destroyed enough faux villains to get you 35 points. An impressive score! However... I'm sorry, but that alone would not be enough to get you into the Hero Course."

Oh.

He had thought that a 35 point scoreline would be enough. Taking more would mean less points for others, and while he wanted to get in, he didn't feel comfortable destroying others dreams. He had dealt with enough dreams as is. But then, what was the point of taking on the zero pointer?

"That is, if we were only marking using Villain Points!" All Might's voice called out, and his eyes snapped to the projection. There, he could see a video of him saving the invisible girl from zero pointer. He noticed that through the video, he was unable to actually _see_ her, only able to see her gloves and boots. Watching the video of Abyss Shriek, he noticed the differences. Back then, it would act simply as an explosion done in 1 seconds, while here they lingered for a few seconds, and tore things to shreds. Something he would keep note of. "A hero course that rejects those who do the right thing is not a proper hero course at all! You, who did something no one else would, risked your life to help another examinee, losing precious time to gain points as you did. As such, we were able to reward you Rescue Points!" Then there was a slight hesitation. "At first, we wanted to award you 60 points for your heroics, but we noticed that you hesitated in using your quirk on young Hagakure to get past the zero pointer. As such, we realized you may not have known what you were doing, and might have caused injury with your quirk. However, we were able to award you 40 Rescue points, putting your total at 75 points, making you second overall! Congratulations, Izuku Midoriya, you are accepted to U.A's hero program!" With that, the projection shut off.

Izuku let out the breath he didn't realize he was holding. He had made it in to the hero course.

He would become a hero.

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

**A/N - ****Pairings undecided so far. But assume what you will.** **:)**

**I'm just paving the road for a different "Deku squad"**

**Hope you enjoyed! Any criticism welcome.**

**...**

**Hero Course Student: Izuku Midoriya**

**Undetermined Hero Name**

**Quirk: Void Heart. Allows him to shift into a shadow form, giving him claws and enhancing his strength.** **Can call ghosts(?) to assist in battle**.

**Power: 2/5 {3/5} (4/5)**

**Speed: 2/5 (3/5)**

**Technique: 2/5 {5/5} (3/5)**

**Intelligence: 5/5**

**Cooperativeness: 3/5**

**{#} = With a blade.**

**(#) = Shade Form.**

**That's his official stats anyways. His quirk and other abilities are still unknown to others, as such, are left out.**


	3. Void UA - 3

**A/N - Right. People are giving Iida hate for actively ignoring and not helping. I'll admit, I purposely made him out to be a bad guy there. But I had meant it more as he was tunnel visioned on more points and less he's a rude person.** **That, plus Izuku being scary and void-y(?) demanding in Shade Form turned him away.**

**He's still in the hero course**. **Izuku's opinion of him just isn't high.**

**I don't own Hollow Knight or My Hero Academy. They are owned by Team Cherry and Kohei Horikoshi respectively.**

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

Izuku wandered the halls of U.A. He was currently looking for his homeroom class, since today was the first day of school. For the hero course, only 1 in 300 students would be accepted. There, they would be split into two seperate classes of 18, totalling 36 students in the hero course through the entrance exams. The remaining 4 students would be recommended from pro heroes, making the final total 40 students with 20 in each class. Having been accepted, he knew he would have been place into either 1-A or 1-B. He had been placed into class 1-A. Supposedly, this was good for him as class 1-A were always the ones to be in the spotlight more. For him, that didn't really matter all that much. He didn't want to be a hero for the fame, he wanted to do it to save people.

Finally arriving at the door to his class, his first observation was that they were _huge._ _'Probably to make sure mutant types that are larger would fit' _Izuku mused internally. From here on, it would only be the elites that had made it through the exam, or those recommended by pros. Silently, he hoped he didn't have to deal with Bakugo. He had been outright _furious_ to learn that Izuku had passed the exam. As an add on, he also hoped that he didn't have to deal with that blue haired boy who singled him out. He hadn't been the friendliest guy to him, even when unprovoked.

Sadly, his luck was never that good.

Opening the giant doors, the first thing he was met with were _exactly both_ of the people he hoped to not deal with. Bakugo was lounging at one of the desks, leaning back and using it as a rest for his feet. Blue hair was staring daggers at this, clearly upset at these actions. Figured as much. Bakugi being Bakugo had already done something to annoy someone.

"You there!" Blue hair shouted at Bakugo while approaching him. "Remove your shoes from this desk immediately."

"Huh?!" Bakugo spoke. "And why should I?"

"Such an action is disrespectful to those who came to U.A before us! You are also insulting those who crafted the desk!"

"Yeah?" Bakugo sneered. "Like I care. What Middle school did you come from _extra_?"

"E-Extra?" Blue hair gasped. "I'm no extra! My name is Tenya Iida! I'm from Somei Private Academy!"

Bakugo scoffed. "Somei huh? No wonder you're such a stuck-up elitist. Don't be surprised when I blow you to bits."

The now identified Iida recoiled at that. "Blow me to bits? You're the worst! Are you sure you wish to be a hero?" He asked.

Bakugo rolled his eyes. That action made it so he finally caught Izuku's entrance, which made him narrow his eyes. This led to Iida turning to see Izuku as well, noticably flinching, before he walked up towards him.

"Hello, I'm Iida from Somei Provate Academy." He introduced, holding out his hand.

"I heard." Izuku responded. "Izuku Midoriya." He didn't take his hand. Iida frowned slightly at that, but continued on anyways.

"Midoriya, I apologize. You percieved the true nature of the practical exam while I did not! If we weren't part of the exams I would have helped!" Iida said, before bowing. "I misjudged you! I hate to admit it, but you were the superior candidate!"

Izuku blinked at that, before simply shaking his head. "Shouldn't matter. Should always help." Turning his eyes up, he realized that everyone else in the class was watching the scene, some with curious eyes, some with competitive. He recognized the silver haired girl, this time wearing clothes, who looked happy that they were in the same class. Katsuki, however, looked downright _murderous._

**/\/\/\/\ Flashback /\/\/\/\**

_"Congratulations!" His middle school teacher called out. Izuku and Katsuki had been brought to the Teacher's Lounge. He had wanted to talk to them after getting the results of the Entrance Exams. "To think, not one, but two students of my class made it to the hero course! Especially you Izuku! It's almost a miracle!"_

_Katsuki scoffed. "Of course I would make it. I'm gonna be the number 1 hero!" The teachers took it in stride._

_Izuku merely nodded. "Thank you."_

_A few more pleasantries were given, before both of them were excused. As soon as they were alone and outside the building, Katsuki had grabbed him by the collar. Izuku let it happen, feeling himself dragged and pressed against the wall._

_"What the _hell _do you think you're doing, _Deku!" _He snarled into his face._

_Izuku merely tilted his head. "What do you mean?"_

_Katsuki growled. "I was supposed to be the first and only one to make it through for our school! My grand plans have gone to shreds because of you!" His palms started sparking, his quirk coming to life. "How dare you ruin this for me!" He shouted, bringing his sparking palm to Izuku's face._

_Finally, he had enough. With quick movements, Izuku brought his arm up and grabbed the sparking hand. He twisted, hard enough to hurt. In his surprise, Katsuki cried out and his grip on Izuku's collar lessened. Taking the opportunity, Izuku swept Katsuki's legs from under him, dropping him to the floor, before taking a couple steps away to make space._

_"I'm not your punching bag, _Bakugo."_ Izuku spoke, relishing in the slight flinch Bakugo had when he changed his way of refering to him. "I _earned _this. You won't ruin it." Bakugo snarled at him, shouting obscenities, but Izuku was long past caring, already having started walking away._

**/\/\/\/\ Present /\/\/\/\**

He stared at Bakugo with uninterested eyes, before hearing a quiet squeak from behind him. Turning, he saw the same brown haired girl from the entrance exam.

"Excuse me." She spoke in a bubbly voice, flinching slightly when their eyes met. "Y-You're blocking the doorway."

Ah. So he still was. "Sorry." He apologized, bowing slightly. "Thank you again for at the entrance before."

"Ah! No problem!" She responded with a smile. One that he noticed was slightly forced. He stepped out of the way, before moving towards his seat. Unluckily, he was seated right behind Bakugo, who glared at him the entire time. With the apparent spell on the class broken, they began to chat amongst themselves, no longer staring up front. Izuku, however, didn't talk. Instead, he kept his eyes on the strange yellow caterpillar that was laying behind the teachers desk.

"If you're here to socialize, then get out." A gruff voice called out. All eyes turned to said yellow caterpillar, now identified as a sleeping bag. A man's face was poking out of the entrance, seemingly tired. "This is the hero course, not time for games."

Everyone quickly quieted down and made their way to their seats if they weren't already. Once they were all seated, the man stood up and got out from his sleeping bag.

"8 seconds. It took 8 seconds for all of you to quiet down." He spoke tiredly. "I'm your homeroom teacher for this year, Shota Aizawa. Pleased to meet you." Izuku could hear a couple murmurs of disbelief at that. But, much like Sly, he figured that looks were always decieving. He rummaged around, before pulling out a bunch of gym uniforms. "Everyone grab a gym uniform and change into it. Once you're changed, meet me in the grounds." Their teacher made to leave, before leaving a final parting remark. "Hurry now, it's irrational to waste time."

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

The class arrived in the school grounds, where their teachers was there waiting for them.

"Good. You can all follow simple instructions." Aizawa droned out. "Today we are going to be doing a test of your quirks."

"B-But sir!" Brown haired girl called out. "What about the entrance ceremony?"

"No use wasting time on that." He responded. "You're better off using it more logically if you want to be a hero." They all waked forward until they made it to a small circle, a softball throwing test.

"U.A is known for it's "freestyle education" system, which applies for the teachers as well. All of you have done the standard no quirk gym tests. Softball throw, standing long jump, 50-meter dash, endurance running, grip strength, side-to-side stepping, upper body training and seated toe-touch. Correct?" At a round of nods, he continued. "I think it's irrational that they insist on keeping them quirk free. So today, we're going to be redoing them."

He reached over to a nearby box and pulled out a softball. One that was clearly made to be stronger than others, but stay the same weight. "Bakugo. How far could you throw in middle school?"

"Around sixty seven meters." Was his reply.

"Good." He tossed the ball over to him. "Now use your quirk. Do whatever you have to, but stay within the circle. And don't hold back."

Bakugo walked over to the circle, stretching his arms while doing so. Once inside, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Opening them, he brought his arm back, hands already slightly popping, before whipping his arm forwards.

"DIE!!!" He shouted, as a loud **_BOOM!_** exploded from his hands. The explosion caused smoke and sand to be blown around, blocking some of the view. Yet everyone was able to see the ball flying away at high speeds, sailing slightly out of view. A few seconds later, a telltale _beep_ came from the device in Aizawa-sensei's hand. Turning it to the class, they were all able to see the distance the ball travelled.

705.2 Meters.

"It's important to know our limits." Aizawa called out, regaining everyones attention. "It's the first rational step in becoming a hero."

Then the excited chatter began.

"Wow! 705 meters! That's awesome!" A spiky red haired boy shouted, clapping a hand on Bakugo's shoulder. He got a snarl at that, but the red haired boy was unfazed.

"This is awesome!" A blonde boy with a black lighting bolt in his hair called out. "Using our quirks for this will be _so cool!_"

"We can use our quirks for real?" A pink girl with horns yelled out in excitement. "Man, the hero course is the _best!_"

Izuku felt it before he saw it. That something bad was about to happen.

"...Awesome you say?" Aizawa spoke, voice darker than it already had been. All eyes turned to him. "You all want to become heroes. Working here for 3 years. And you think it will be all _fun and games?"_ No one dared to speak, all feeling a sense of foreboding now. "Well then. The person who gets last place across all events will be deemed _hopeless_. They will be _expelled_ from the hero course.

And the class _erupted_.

"Wait a minute! You can't do that! That's totally unfair!" The silver haired girl yelled out.

"Yeah! It's the first day!" A short boy with purple balls in his hair called out.

"So what?" Their teacher shrugged. "Life isn't always fair. Natural Disasters, Villain attacks, Highway Pileups. These things happen all the time, and you can't be prepared for them." He stared at them, eyes lacking the tiredness they saw before. "Heroes are the ones who are supposed to _correct_ that unfairness. So if you were hoping to coast your way into becoming a hero, guess again. You're walking into the deep end now."

He spread his arms out. "Welcome to the Hero Course. This is _Plus Ultra_. Use your strength and _don't be last_.

**/\/\/\/\ Test 1. 50 Meter Dash. /\/\/\/\**

All the students were going up in pairs. Tenya Iida and Tsuyu Asui had just gone. Lida, with his _very_ approriate quirk, had got an impressive time of 3.04 seconds. Asui, on the other hand, had gotten a time of 5.58 seconds. Her quirk didn't quite help for this event

All of the students were using their quirks in creative ways to increase their times. The brown haired girl, Ochako Uraraka, had made all her clothes lighter to make running easier. A blonde haired boy, Yuga Aoyama, had used his quirk 'Navel Laser' to blast himself halfway across the distance. It seemed he had a limit, since he had to stop before the finish line, before standing up and restarting. Pink girl with horns, or Mina Ashido, had used her acid quirk to slide instead of running.

Also, of course there had to be an acid quirk. He _absolutely_ jinxed himself back when he realized he didn't have Isma's Tear.

Next up was him and Bakugo. Both took their places on the lanes, prepared to start. He could hear the growls from Bakugo right next to him.

Izuku had 5 minutes of shade form available to him, as well as a full Soul charge. At a minimum, each shift would take a minute of time, even if used for a few seconds. Therefore, he would only have shade form for 5 tasks at most. Well, this one, he supposed he could use one for this. After all, he didn't want to lose to Bakugo.

Focusing, he made the shift into shade form, and could hear the gasps from the surrounding crowd, Bakugo included. Yet, his eyes narrowed in challenge, arms back and ready to use his Explosion quirk to the fullest.

"Go!"

Instantly, Bakugo put his all into causing explosions to propell himself forwards. At the same time, Izuku took off in a huge sprint. Yet, Bakugo was _slightly _faster, and with glee was about to win the race. That was, until Izuku shade dashed, and covered the remaining few meters instantly.

"Izuku Midoriya. 4.10 seconds. Katsuki Bakugo. 4.13 seconds."

Izuku let out a quiet sigh, before turning off his shade form. Internally, he felt his time sink down to 4 minutes despite only being in use of the form for a few seconds. _'__4 events left__'._

_"Deku!"_ He heard being snarled at him. Turning, he saw Bakugo, eyes once again filled with murder. "What the _hell_ is that. Explain yourself!" He shouted, palms exploding as he ran towards him. Izuku was prepared, already tensing for a fight. That was before he saw a white cloth wrap around him, and his quirk turning off. "What the hell? This cloth is stiff!"

"It's a capture weapon made of carbon fibres and a special alloy wire." All eyes turned to Aizawa-sensei. His eyes were bright red. "Stop using your quirk already. I'm getting dry eye." Finally, it all clicked in his head.

_"Pro Hero: Shota Aizawa._

_Eraserhead_ _'Erasure Hero'_

_Quirk: Erasure. Disable the quirk of anyone he can see within eye contact. Blinking disables this effect._

_Power: 3/5_

_Speed: 4/5_

_Technique: 6/5_

_Intelligence: 4/5_

_Cooperativeness: 3/5."_

"Shut _up_, Deku!" Bakugo stomped off in fury. He blinked, seeing everyone staring at him, realizing he had began to mutter again. He _really_ needed to stop that.

Red haired boy, or Eijiro Kirishima, tried approaching Bakugo, but he was shoved off and ignored. Izuku chanced a glance at the rest of the class and was met with a bunch of them actively trying not to stare at him. Letting out a quiet sigh at that, he shrugged it off. At least silver hair, or Toru Hagakure, simply waved at him. One other boy also didn't seem to mind. The boy, who looked like a bird named Fumikage Tokoyami, gave him a nod. Considering his quirk was Dark Shadow, a dark entity he summoned, he seemingly wasn't afraid of him. Yet, the strange duo got no stares while Izuku did.

Maybe it was something he couldn't detect?

**/\/\/\/\ Test 2. Grip Test. /\/\/\/\**

With the shock off the first test gone, Izuku had ran through which tests he would be using his last 4 shade form uses on, which were Softball Throw, Standing Long Jump, Upper Body Training and this current test, Grip Strength.

In Middle School, his grip strength had measured 40kg.

Shifting into shade form, his claws grip strength measured around 100kg. Stronger than he expected, but still not quite that high.

The strange masked boy, Mezo Shoji, had used his quirk to clock in at an impressive 540kg.

Another boy, Rikido Sato, had used his to get around 400kg. So while his was impressive, it certainly flew under the radar in score.

A shame he still felt the stares.

**/\/\/\/\ Test 3. Standing Long Jump. /\/\/\/\**

Seems like all the tests that he wanted to go into shade form had been lined up in a row. Either it was a very big coincidence, or he was just that unlucky.

He already knew it was the latter.

Using shade form, he already had a high jump height, but adding in a midair dash, he was easily able to clear the pit and clock in a far distance. Yet, Aizawa-sensei didn't seem to measure past clearing the pit, so many clocked in at the same distance of cleared. Only a select few didn't have quirks that could help them clear the pit.

**/\/\/\/\ Test 4. Upper Body Strength. /\/\/\/\**

Okay. This was _ridiculus._

While the upper body strength test he didn't necessarily _need_ to use his quirk for, he had already set himself up to use it. The test was mostly to see how many push-ups you could do, before either backing out, falling from tiredness, or reaching 60. The last clause was simply because Aizawa-sensei was lazy.

Using his quirk, he easily clocked in the 60 pushups _just before_ his minute mark ran out. He panted slightly, as he had to do it quickly to keep pace and not run out of time. Surprisingly, only about half the students had passed and gotten to the 60 mark.

Only one more minute of shade form left, which meant one more use, before his cooldown of 3 hours would take into effect.

**/\/\/\/\ Test 5. Softball Throw. /\/\/\/****\**

Here we were. The Softball throw. Color him surprised.

Most everyone had used their quirk in some fashion to cause their balls to fly quite the distance. One girl, Momo Yaoyorozu, had created a _cannon_ to blast the ball away. Another boy, Shoto Todoroki, had used a blast of ice to send it away. Yet surprisingly, Uraraka was the one with the highest score. Using her quirk, the ball had flow away out of the atmosphere, giving her a score of _infinity._ The whole class had crowded around and congratulated her on it. And Izuku was next to go.

A little bit of an impossible bar to beat.

Well, he had planned to use shade form for this test anyways. Even if it ended up being his last use. The rest of the tests he wouldn't need to use it anyways. None of the tests had warranted use of a soul ability, except this one too.

"Midoriya. Your turn." He heard Aizawa call out. He walked calmly into the circle, and caught the ball that was thrown at him. Again, focusing on entering shade form (which now happened almost instantly), he held the ball, before preparing to throw it. His idea was to throw it, and mid air, blast it with a Shade Sould to give it some extra distance. Bringing his arm back, he prepared to throw.

Before he felt his Soul Meter lock up. Much like in the Godhome, when using a binding, he lacked the ability to use his Soul Meter. In there, it simply limited the use, but here he felt his connection _disappear._ And he _felt_ where it was coming from too. With instincts honed through countless battles, his eyes turned instantly to his teacher, Eraserhead, who was staring at him with red eyes glowing. Unconciously, he leaked out a bit of intent, before realizing and clamping down on it in a split second.

Quietly, he let his shade form dissipate. While he could still stay in the form, he was currently passing it off as his quirk. Since they had his quirk classified as an emitter quirk and not a mutation, him being able to stay in shade cloak while his quirk was being deactivated would cause suspicion. That, and he would be able to keep his soul abilities hidden for now, since they were mostly unknown and he _knew_ that eventually there would be practice spars. Any hidden weapon that he could keep hidden was a plus.

That, and he felt like he passed the impromptu test.

**/\/\/\/\ P.O.V Eraserhead /\/\/\/\**

Throughout the tests, Izuku Midoriya had caught his eye. For one, he was the most serious among the students, even past the two recommended kids. He had noticed at the start when everyone had mingled in his classroom that he had noticed his presence there. The rest had not even looked his way, save for maybe Endeavour's brat.

Something about his quirk also rubbed him the wrong way. It was... unnatural. Yet, seeing his use of it, like it was part of him, was strange. According to Nezu and the notes he was given, Midoriya had only unlocked his quirk recently. As a late bloomer, he would be behind in learning how to properly use his quirk. Yet, he clearly knew the limits of it with how sparingly he was using them for this test.

It also unnerved him slightly to look at it. On screen during the entrance exam, he didn't feel anything. Yet in his presence, he felt a shiver down his spine when he looked into his eyes. Something, cold. Unnatural.

So, on a whim, he wanted to test his quirk on him. When he took his position in the circle and prepared to throw, Aizawa had activated his quirk. He had expected confusion, or even for his quirk to not work. What he hadn't expected was for Midoriya's eyes to turn to him the _second_ his quirk had activated. He couldn't tell the expression in his eyes, now a pure white instead of the black they usually were, but for a millisecond, he _swore_ he felt killer intent behind it.

Yet, in that same instant, Midoriya's quirk deactivated, fading slowly back to his original form.

Had he imagined the killer intent? He certainly couldn't tell if Midoriya had or not, his blank eyes giving nothing away. It could have been his mind playing with him. Did his quirk truly cancel out his? He certainly _felt_ like it worked. The same slight pull he feels when using it on others had been present, yet his quirk didn't turn off instantly, instead fading slowly and naturally. Of course, it could be it can't turn off instantly, as seen in the previous tests, but the question was still there.

"Sensei?" He heard Midoriya call out interrupting his internal dialogue. The kid's head was tilted in a silent question.

**/\/\/\/\ P.O.V Izuku Midoriya /\/\/\/\**

His question went unasked, as he knew his teacher understood what he meant.

"Sorry." The teacher spoke. "On a whim, I activate my quirk to see if you or the others were paying attention. You may try again."

Izuku nodded. It was a weak reason and they both knew it, but it was better to let it go. He set up, preparing to once again throw. However, this time he didn't have the ability to change into shade form. As such, he would only have use of his Soul techniques, and only one he would be able to moderately hide. Then again, he _had_ already shown off that he could do it in Shade Form during the entrance exam, it would more or less be him showing that he _could_ even without transforming. So, when he threw, he used a quick Vengeful Spirit in the palm of his hand, causing a small white burst to come from his hand. Only using 10% of his charge, the small white burst was seen blasting out of his hand. The ball went sailing out, and landed not quite that far. A beep was heard, and he looked over at Aizawa-sensei who held the device over to him.

213.5 meters.

"Why didn't you use your quirk fully?" He heard the teacher call out, serious expression on his face. "You summoned a ghost to push it forwards but didn't use your form or as many as last time. Are you not taking this test seriously?"

"I am, sir." Izuku cooly responded. Ghosts? Is that how they saw his soul attacks? And so much for attempting to keep his Soul attacks hidden if his teacher would just announce that to everyone. "There's... a timer. You burnt out the last."

Aizawa-sensei blinked at that, before shaking his head. "Right, sorry. In any case, well done. Next, Yuga Aoyama."

Izuku walked off, trading places with the blonde boy. He still felt everyone's eyes on him, as he could hear the quiet muttering, clearly gossiping about the fact that their teacher had used his quirk on him. They obviously had him labelled as a problem child, since the only other student to receive this treatment was Bakugo. He tried to ignore them, but he could slightly make out one comment from the short purple ball boy, Minoru Mineta.

_"__Thank goodness he can stop him with his quirk. It would be bad if he went out of control_._"_

He sighed.

**/\/\/\/\ Tests Over :) /\/\/\/\**

The rest of the tests had passed by and nothing special had really happened.

Knowing his stamina was probably where he was most lacking, he was pleasantly surprised to be among the top 5 in the Endurance Test. For seated toe touch, he was easily able to touch his toes, being flexible enough to do it. Finally, in side-to-side stepping, he managed a totally average score.

With all the tests done, the students were all grouped together anxiously waiting to see their placements.

"Alright. Here's your scores." Aizawa-sensei called out. With a press of a button, their results popped up on screen.

1\. Momo Yaoyorozu

2\. Shoto Todoroki

3\. Katsuki Bakugo

4\. Tenya Iida

5\. Izuku Midoriya

6\. Fumikage Tokoyami

7\. Mezo Shoji

8\. Mashirao Ojiro

9\. Eijiro Kirishima

10\. Mina Ashido

11\. Ochako Uraraka

12\. Koji Koda

13\. Rikido Satou

14\. Tsuyu Asui

15\. Yuga Aoyama

16\. Hanta Sero

17\. Denki Kaminari

18\. Kyoka Jiro

19\. Toru Hagakure

20\. Minoru Mineta

Everyone looked to the short purple haired boy, whos face in despair. He was about to start crying, when Aizawa-sensei's voice rang out.

"By the way. I was lying about the expulsion."

"HUH?!" A majority of the class called out in shock. Izuku, Yaoyorozu and Todoroki being the exceptions.

"It was a rational deception. Meant to make you bring the best you had in you." He smirked.

"It was quite obvious if you thought about it. Of course it was a lie" Yaoyorozu spoke in a matter of fact tone.

"Anyways, we're done here. Get changed and head back for the classroom. Documents about your courses will be there." With that, the teacher headed back to the room.

Mineta had fallen on the floor, sighing in relief. "Thank god it was all a ruse!"

_'Except it wasn't. He only didn't expel anyone because he saw potential in everyone. I could tell he wasn't lying." _Izuku thought. _'Af__ter all, he _had _expelled his entire class last year.__'_ Yet, he didn't voice any of this aloud, as his class was currently happy with the results.

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

Other than the athletics test, the rest of the day had been fairly tame. With no real classes and them mostly going over what they would learn, the day had ended and everyone was heading home. Izuku had left, fairly satisfied with the results of the day. He was minding his own buisiness walking, sketching into his new journal, when he abruptly stopped having almost walked into someone. Looking up, it was his invisible classmate.

"Hey there!" She greeted with a smile and over exaggerated arm movements.

Izuku had been ready for many things. Fighting giant robots, being expelled, quirk discrimination, killing another god, dying _again_. Social interaction? With a cute girl?

Way out of his skills.

His memories of his previous life were of no help, as _he couldn't even talk_. Though how they had managed to communicate so well with just head tilts and arm movements was strange. So he was on his own, and he was already awkward enough as it, even before the merge.

"Hi." He started awkwardly. "I... Sorry. Didn't see you."

"Cuz I've never heard that one before." She groaned.

"Sorry." He winced. "Didn't mean-"

"Nah, It's fine." She waved him off. She paused, before bowing. "I wanted to thank you. For the entrance exams. You saved my life." Looking up, she held out her hand. "I'm Toru Hagakure. And you are... Deku Midoriya, right?"

"No." Izuku instantly denied. "Deku is what Bakugo calls me."

"Hmm?" She tilted her head. "Then why does he call you that?"

"Another way to read my name. Means useless. I'm Izuku Midoriya." He corrected.

"Oh!" She gasped. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to insult you!"

"It's ok." He said, shaking her hand. Which caused her to gasp in shock.

"Wait. How did you know where my hand was?"

He tilted his head in confusion. "I can see you?" His assumption was that she turned her quirk off when unneeded.

"...You can see me?" She asked quietly. At Izuku's nod, she narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "Prove it. Am I holding up rock, paper or scissors?" She held up none of those options, instead holding up three fingers.

"None. You're holding up three fingers." Izuku answered.

"...You really _can _see me." Hakagure got out. Izuku simply nodded again. There was an awkward moment of silence, as she processed that information. Then she suddenly jumped in front of his face. "YoucanseemeyoucanseemeohmygoodnesswhatdoIlooklikewhatcolorismyeyeswhatcolorismyhairdoIhaveanyfreckleshowcanyouevenseemeinthefirstplaceismyhairtoolongamIcute-"

"Stop. Please. Calm down." Izuku begged. Was this how people felt when _he _started mumbling? No wonder they always got annoyed.

"Sorry. Sorry." She apologized, backing up slightly. "It's just... You're the first person who can see me. No one has since..." She trailed off. There was an awkward silence that passed between them.

"Silver." Izuku finally muttered.

"Huh?"

"Your hair. It's silver."

"Oh. Silver..." She whispered quietly. Then, she smiled at him before moving forwards. "So, you headed to the station right?" He nodded. "Well, want to go together then?"

"...Sure."

Hagakure nodded, before starting to walk towards the station. That went better than he thought it would. He actually managed to make a friend, despite circumstances. His first friend, ignoring Bakugo, if that even counted. Well, that bridge was burned already he supposed. And he didn't really count anyone back in Hallownest. They more more... Acquaintances than anything. The closest would have been Sly, yet they were more colleagues and customer/store owner than anything. Did Hornet even count as an acquaintance? She was at his throat more than most others were-

"Midoriya! You coming?" Hagakure called out. Looking up, he realized the girl had stopped shortly ahead.

"Sorry." He jogged to catch up.

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

The next day, he returned to U.A to properly begin his days to being in the hero course.

And boy was the start of that slightly underwhelming.

Just because they were in the hero course did _not_ mean they got out of having to participate in regular classes. As such, the start of their days were met with mundane schoolwork.

The start of their day consisted of English class, taught by President Mic, who was ever loud and enthusiastic as always. Despite that, the class was still ordinary and in such case, boring to most, if not all of the students, Izuku included.

After that, they had Mathematics with Cementoss. Again, nothing super interesting, since they were just regular classes but taught by pro heroes. In fact, Izuku was even more bored in this class, since he was very confident in his skills at math.

Lunch was an awkward affair. The pro hero Lunch Rush served the cafeteria with top quality food for extremely reasonable prices. He initially tried to sit alone at lunch, only for Hagakure to pull him towards a table with a chunk of their class. Sitting at the end, most of the table elected to ignore him, conversing with themselves. They did however politely respond when Hagakure herself forced him to join the conversation. It seemed to make her happy to have him involved, so he indulged her. Nothing more than short clipped sentences however, seeing as he _was _still a socially awkward outcast. Being in a crowded room, he definetly felt more than enough stares at his direction, which confused him slightly. He wasn't exactly _doing_ anything, even if his eyes were strange.

Finally, they reached the afternoon. Where the hero course has the class that none of the other courses have.

Obviously, it was hero basic training.

Izuku waited patiently at his desk as he heard the excited murmuring around him. Though, even he had to admit he was slightly excited.

"I AM!"

Ah. He could recognize that voice anywhere.

"COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!" Blonde haired, extremely muscular and dressed in his hero costume, All Might opened the doors and made his entrance. The class' excitement only grew when they realized who their teacher was.

"It's actually All Might! He's really gonna teach us!" One Denki Kaminari called out.

"Yes! Hero Training! The class that will mold you all into heroes and shape your future!" All Might spoke, posing all the while. "Today, there is no time to waste! We will be doing a practical activity, Battle Training!"

Izuku glanced arpund at that, seeing more than enough people happy at that. He could _feel_ Bakugo's smile in front of him, and it certainly didn't make him feel good.

"Of course, to be a hero, you have to look the part!" All Might continued. "Therefore, in accordance to your 'Quirk Registry' and request forms, we have brought you these!" With that, he pressed a button. From the walls nearby, four shelves with briefcases numbered 1 to 20 came out. Weirdly, briefcase number 17 was missing.

"Your costumes! Everyone grab the briefcase that corresponds to your student number, and get changed! When you're done, meet me at Ground Beta in ranking order!" All the students got up, and quickly grabbed the briefcase of their corresponding number. Izuku, realizing his was the one missing, walked over to All Might.

"Sir?" He asked, getting the masculine man's attention. "Mine's missing."

"Ah! Yes!" All Might realized. "Your request came in late, so they were just finishing it today. I had brought up something I thought would... be an issue, so it was delayed slightly. You are to talk with Power Loader at his workshop to get your costume before meeting up at Ground Beta. Worry not! We will not begin until you are ready!" And then he left, quickly dashing towards the training grounds.

Moving down the halls, Izuku headed towards the workshops where the support courses would be having their afternoon classes. Power Loader would be teaching Class 1-H at this time, so he made his way to the doors. As he got closer, he instantly felt something wrong, and quickly backstepped away from the doors. Immediately, there was a loud explosion, and the doors were blown open. Reacting instinctively, he reached his hands out and barely caught a body that had blown through the now open doors. The momentum they came at, however, brought both of them to the floor, said body landing on top of him.

"Hatsume!" He heard Power Loader's voice call out. "What are you _doing!_ Causing explosions on the _first day!_"

"Sorry! I didn't think that would happen!" The body on top of him called out. She turned to him, the pink haired girl with crosshair eyes staring down at him. "Hi there!"

"Hello." Izuku blinked back. He looked down, before quickly bringing his eyes back up. "Mind getting off?"

"Oh! Sure thing!" The mechanic girl, quickly shifted and stood up, allowing Izuku to do the same. "So. Who're you? Come to make some babies as well?"

"Izuku Midoriya." He blinked, before tilting his head. "...Babies?"

"Don't mind her." Power Loader showed up at the door, wafting away some of the lingering smoke with his hands. "Thats Mei Hatsume, and I can already tell she's going to be a handful."

"Sorry! I didn't think that particular baby would react like that!" The girl tried to defend herself.

"In any case, here's your briefcase." Power Loader said, handing him the briefcase labelled #17. "Your sword doesn't fit in it, which is why we have it seperate." Spire was in his other hand, the weapon looking just as he left it. Ge grabbed it quickly, and subconsiously realized just how happy he was to have it back in his hands.

"Oh! That's _your _baby?!" Hatsume voice came out close to his ear. He turned to see her looking at it over his shoulder. "It's so well made! Perfectly balanced, sleek design, super sharp! Though maybe I could add a few adjustments, like making it extendable or making it shift into a gun too. Maybe even adding something to light it on fire..." Her hand started reaching over to it, before Izuku tugged it back, cradling it in his arms tightly while glaring daggers at Hatsume. She held her hands up in surrender, before he turned back to Power Loader.

"There were issues?"

"Issues? Ah." Power Loader frowned. "Not really an issue, more a disagreement. Some of us were against... Nevermind. Though, All Might will probably say something when you get back. Speaking of which, you should probably head out to not be late." Izuku nodded, taking his costume and Spire before heading over to his class.

"Bye!" Hatsume called out. "If you ever want me to fix your baby, let me know! Or if you need a baby made!"

Okay, she needed to work on her phrasing. Also, he wouldn't be letting her _touch_ Spire. Not after knowing her first "baby" _explode__d_.

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

Luckily, Izuku had managed to catch up to his class just as they were finished changing into their costumes. He quickly changed into his, and ran outside to group up with the rest before their entrace to Ground Beta.

"Looking good is very important, ladies and gentleman! And you all look _great__!_ So, my wards, welcome to Battle Training!" All Might's grand voice spoke, as he nodded in front of the class.

Izuku looked around at everyone's costumes. He had to admit, they all looked good.

"Midoriya!" Hagakure called out to him. He turned to look, before immediately turning away. "Hmm? What's wrong?"

"I can see you." He bluntly spoke.

It took her a couple of seconds, before she squeaked in embarassment, and ran to hide behind another student, which happened to be Tokoyami. He looked confused, but shrugged and joined their conversation. Her "costume", if he could call it that, was simply a pair of gloves and boots. Which, to be fair, maximised the use of her quirk since she was _invisible_. At least, to everyone else. To Izuku...

"Sorry." He apologized to her.

"It... It's fine." She managed to squeak out. "Just wanted to say your costume really fits you!"

Well, he certainly hoped so. After all, he designed the outfit to match his previous appearance in the past. His costume consisted of a black jumpsuit, with nothing particularily fancy about it other than being decently form fitting. He had a grey cloak that similarily matched his old one, along with a small holster which was imbedded into it. That would allow his sword to rest along his back, and he thought it give easier access than a sheath would. Originally, he though of having a helmet as well, but thought it could cause issues in the future. Instead, he added a small white hood with his cloak, which had two small horns identical to the ones he lost.

Overall, he looked like a slightly taller, green haired but mostly identical Knight.

"It does." Tokoyami agreed. "Though, why are you hiding behind me?"

"Uh... I..." Hagakure started blushing. Not that anyone other than he could tell. "I'm nervous..." She eventually stammered out. The bird merely blinked, before turning back to Izuku.

"It seems that we went for similar themes." Tokoyami said. "I suppose as another who draws their powers from the darkness, we would have similar tastes."

And their costumes _were_ similar. Considering that he also had a dark cloak on. Though, his was black rather than his grey. He also had a bit of red color poking through around his neck.

"Sir!" Iida's loud voice called out, gathering everyone's attention. His costume was that of a classic knight, plate metal and helmet covering him. "Are we going to be doing cityscape maneuvers again?"

"Nope!" All Might answered. "Today we are going to move on to step two! Indoor Anti-Personnel Battle Training!"

That got everyone even _more_ excited.

"Statistically, villains will be found indoors more than outdoors. Therefore, today we will be splitting into teams of two and having 2 vs 2 battles! Each team will either be a the heroes or the villains in this scenario!"

"So... No basic training?" Tsuyu, now dressing in an appropriately green costume asked.

"I believe that practical experience teaches you the basics faster!" All Might smiled.

"What determines victory?"

"Can I just blast everyone away?"

"Are you going to threaten to expell us like Aizawa-sensei did?"

"Doesn't my cape look _fabulous?"_

"How will we be split into teams?" The class erupted into questions.

"One at a time! My quirk isn't super hearing!" All Might sweatdropped. Jiro frowned slightly at that comment. All Might proceeded to pull out a piece of paper, and began to read off of it. "Here's the scenario! The villain team will have a nuclear weapon inside their hideout, and the hero team must go in to retreive it! There will be limited time for the heroes to either capture the villains, or retreive the bomb! Villains must do the opposite. Stall enough time protecting the bomb, or disabling the heroes!"

"Capture?" Iida asked.

"Yes!" All Might pulled out a box, and pulled out a white tape. "These will be capture tapes. Wrap it around a limb and the combatant will be considered captured! Now, we will make teams by drawing lots!"

"Lots!" Iida shouted. "Are we sure this is the best way to do this?!"

"Sure! Sometimes heroes must team up with whoever else they meet in the scene! They don't have the luxury to always have certain teammates available!" All Might reasoned.

"Of course! My apologies sensei!" Iida bowed.

And so lots were drawn to make teams. Izuku ended up with a sheet with the letter A. After a bit of searching, he found his partner.

"So, it seems fate has decided to pair us together for this battle." Tokoyami spoke. In his hand was the other sheet with A written on it. Izuku simply nodded, not _usually _much for words.

"Now! The first two teams will be these two!" All Might reached in two boxes labelled heroes and villains and pulled out two balls. The black one which came from the villain box was labelled A. The white one was labelled D. His eyes turned to those who were on team D.

Tenya Iida.

And Katsuki Bakugo. Whos smile was down right _murderous._

**/\/\/\/\ Line Break /\/\/\/\**

**A/N - Mostly humor this chapter. Izuku is much higher in rankings at least.**

**I'll be sticking _mostly_ to canon as I don't think I'm creative enough to make new plot lines. However I am willing to twist things slightly to make things interesting. Such a case, Bakugo and Midoriya have swapped roles here, plus he has a darker colored teammate than Ururaka.****There will be slightly more changes as I aim to intertwine Hollow Knight lore _slightly_ _more _into the story. I don't want to add too much however in fear of making things too chaotic****, or changing things _too_ much.**

**Also for those wondering about updates, my writing is _extremely_ inconsistent. School as well as Covid changes messed me up. ****I write what I can whenever I find time.** **Plus trying to write while thinking ahead so as to not mess things up.**

**Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed! ****Hopefully I do the oncoming fight some justice.**

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**Did a quick edit to change Lida to Iida. Thanks KyrosVasera**. **If I missed one, woops.**


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